The next bit is going to be hard times, I fear. The holidays are always an especially acutely lonely time for me since my mother went and fouled everything up with her relations. I suppose it's also been that way since my Great-grandmother died. She was the matriarch- Christmas and Thanksgiving at her house every year. My father and stepmother have Thanksgiving and Christmas, but because so much of the rest of the family has other familial obligations to attend to, they make sure to do it in the afternoon or morning, so it's convenient for everyone. Sure they'd let me stay longer if I wanted, but they're grown and they have lives to lead. Also, I'm fairly certain I'm scheduled to work everyday that's not a federal holiday. The end result is me at home in an empty apartment for stretches of many days. It can be disorienting. I'm not looking supremely forward to any of it.