The first Xmas I was alone, I drank an entire bottle of wine and ate a two pound box of rich chocolates.
Every one since then has been an improvement.
Put my name down on the list of Dopers who are always single on the holidays. In addition to that (warning–shameless self-pity approaching), Christmas Eve is my birthday, and everyone I know is too busy with their own families to bother with me.
What do I do? The possibilities are unlimited, really. Tequila, a good book, Scotch, some favorite old movies, a bottle of wine, surfing the internet, jell-o shots, playing with my cats, Goldschlager, calling ex-boyfriends in the middle of the night, Irish Coffees, cigarettes, and then throwing up till dawn.
You’d be surprised how utterly satisfying it can be. 
Haven’t been single on a holiday in five years. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. It’s not exactly the end of the world, though.
Now, my other problems, those are the end of the world…
Hm. Never been other than single for a holiday, so I really don’t know how the other half lives. I should get out more.
Let the pity party begin. I am going to be geographically single this year. I’m missing Thanksgiving, my daughter’s fifth birthday and the only Christmas my babies will have at ages 3 and 5. I’ll have to make due with some phone calls. Otherwise I am going to try hard to pretend it’s just another day. I will get to go home in January so I’ll try to make up for it.
Well, there’s a difference between being single and being alone. Being single is no big deal–you do stuff with family and friends. Being alone is much harder, but even it’s really not so very bad. You just have to find stuff to do. Call your family. Cook. Play with the critters. Watch tv or movies. Work on some project you’ve been meaning to get around to. Read, write, go for a long walk. Try to focus on positive things, like when you’ll get to see your loved ones again. If you can’t avoid focusing on the sad stuff, have a good cry and a nap, and then go find something to do.
I go out of my way to be away from family during the holidays. Seriously, do you put on your rose-colored glasses the minute you walk away from your family’s house, or does your memory just deteriorate over the course of the year so that when the holidays roll around you think it’s just possible that this year you won’t all fight over the same damn things?
As far as I’m concerned, being single is better than any relationship I’ve ever been in. And I think it would be a little silly to keep on believing that despite all evidence to the contrary, there must be a perfect person out there with whom I would be deliriously happy during the holidays, just as everyone always is in the Bailey’s Irish Creme commercials.
To cut this short, my own personal opinion on coping with being alone on the holidays is to adjust your attitude and appreciate the advantages you have.
I’ve always wanted to work a soup kitchen or something on the holidays, but although permanently single, I’ve yet to be alone; my family gets all testy if I avoid them around this time of year.
If you’re on good terms with your family, by all means you should hang out with them (even if some of the same ol’ dumb arguments come up). And if you do get maudlin, I’m sure that there’s at least one family member that will be happy to listen to you. I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of family 
.
If you can’t be with your family, I think CrazyCatLady nailed it.
Now as for my non-self-pitying (for a change) opinion goes: I’m thankfully to be single for Thanksgiving! No one to complain about me watching or going to football games all day. Go Panthers…Beat WVU!!! 