All of my family is on the east coast, and most of my friends are out of town visiting their families, so after I woke up to post to all of you this morning I decided to defy my cold and go see just what Christmas alone in Seattle is like.

Actually, I wasn’t completely alone. A coworker dropped her son off at his dad’s house, and she and I headed to Pacific Place to catch a movie. The theatre wasn’t quite as packed as I had expected, but there were certainly a fair amount of people there, largely small family units who looked anxious to spend a couple of hours not talking to each other. Nearly everyone was in line for movie treats–I guess Christmas is the one day it’s ok for the populace to eat popcorn.

After the movie we decided we were hungry, so we wandered the streets of downtown looking for an open restaurant. This turned out to be a completely daft idea, because nothing is open on Christmas Day. Except, of course, the 5 Point.

It’s strange to be in a non-smoky 5 Point, strange in a way I’m not sure I liked. But since fried macaroni and cheese wedges are the best present you can give yourself, that’s where we ended up. Both the bar and restaurant were full, and someone even had their laundry going next door. Chatting with the waitress, she told us that it had been busy but was nowhere near as bad as last night, when people were just mean.
Evidently, the sort of people that go drinking on Christmas Eve are not the sort you want to be drinking with.

As a whole, I rather enjoyed my solitary Christmas. It was quiet and calm and ended with fried food and beer–and this might be all that I need out of the holidays.