Christmas can be a complicated season. On the outside, it’s lights and traditions and doing everything I can to keep the magic alive for my kids. It’s just my immediate family, and we work really hard to make the days feel special — baking, decorating, wrapping gifts, creating moments I hope they’ll remember fondly. During the day, there’s noise and purpose and motion, and I pour myself into that role completely.
But when the house finally goes quiet at night, the loneliness has a way of settling in. There’s no extended family gathering, no busy calendar full of visits, no one dropping by. It’s in those quiet hours that the weight of how small our circle is becomes very real, and Christmas can feel less like a celebration and more like a reminder of what’s missing.
Still, I’m grateful for something: the gaming community and the friends I’ve made through gaming. In a season that can feel isolating, they’ve been kind, welcoming, and genuinely lovely. Sometimes connection doesn’t look like a crowded living room — sometimes it looks like shared worlds, late-night conversations, and knowing you’re not as alone as you thought. And this Christmas, that has meant more than I can put into words.
A Pixel Nomad 
Merry belated Christmas.It’s a little strange, right? I keep reading (on the socials) about how stressed people are because they have to go visit family members or friends or whatever and I’m thinking “Really, you should be thankful you have these people in your life.” I spoke to my brother on the phone, and that was it. He’s the only family I have left. Partpurple was up at the old apartment; we’d been invited to dinner by some friends from up there. I had to work this morning so I couldn’t go, and the movers are there early this morning so someone HAD to be there, so that’s how it worked out. So I spent the day alone. It was fine but certainly didn’t feel like Christmas!And I’m too ornery to stay part of any gaming community I ever come across. That’s no one’s fault but mine, though. Self-inflicted crotchety-ness!!!
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