Friendship Season

Any time of year is a perfect time of year to savor friendships, but the holiday season offers a wealth of opportunities to create memories together with friends. Recognizing that schedules can be challenging to coordinate as the holidays approach, this week we share a variety of ideas for honoring friendships this season.  

1. Shop with friends. If you can resist the temptation to do all your holiday shopping online this year, we recommend carving out a weekend afternoon to wander around in real life enjoying the festive environment with friends. Many malls have figured out that to lure customers back to in-person shopping, they needed to up their game. Adweek noted in late 2022 that a mall in Pennsylvania experienced a 31% increase in visits once a Hollywood Casino replaced a long-defunct Sears. Research also indicates “a notable pivot towards valuing experience over physical gifts”, according to a recent Forbes article about Black Friday shopping trends. And shopping with friends can be a great experience on its own; the time spent together is a gift in itself.

2. Get lost in a book about friendships. Night falls by late afternoon this time of year, and I am finding myself heading to bed earlier with more time to read before dozing off. We’ve written many posts about our favorite books, and some of those feature compelling friendship stories, such as Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow that Sara wrote about in an earlier post.  

One of my favorite friendship stories is the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. These books tell of the many adventures of a group of retirees, or pensioners, as they are called in England, as they solve murders while forming new friendships late in life. Some of the more touching moments of the books involve the connections formed across generations and cultures. One character reflects on how close bonds form, “just accumulations of small moments that turn acquaintances into friendships.”

3. Give back with friends. The holiday season offers many opportunities to volunteer or donate to support those in need. A long-standing tradition I have with my family is to spend a Saturday morning with a group from church packing meals at the Chicago-area charity Feed My Starving Children. The organization ships boxes of nutrition-rich meals to needy areas around the world. Closer to home, Feeding America, the national network of food banks, offers tips for organizing a virtual food drive if volunteering in person is hard to manage this time of year.

In a few weeks, I plan to participate in the second annual Hearts Aglow event at Heartland Animal Shelter. This new tradition is a gathering of animal-lovers to honor past pets and support cats and dogs in need of forever homes. My bond to Heartland formed when my boys and I fostered three immuno-compromised kittens during the pandemic, two of whom have since crossed the ‘rainbow bridge’ and will be honored with lights in the remembrance ceremony.

4. Write a card to a faraway friend. ‘Tis the season for sending holiday and New Year’s cards. Adding a personalized note to a friend you haven’t seen in ages can help you stay more connected. Despite emailed holiday letters gaining in popularity, I look forward to finding cards in my mailbox throughout the season.

If you’d like to combine time spent with friends volunteering and card-writing, organizations like United Sailors and Soldiers of America accepts cards and care packages through December 5th. Writing or making cards for troops deployed overseas is an activity suitable for all ages, as well as a great way to get into the holiday spirit.

5. Enjoy art. That could mean taking a friend with you to visit a special exhibit at a museum or to a holiday concert to enjoy the music of the season. Plenty of information abounds on the websites of your local museums and music venues. In Boston, a personal favorite of ours is the Handel & Haydn Society’s annual performance of Messiah at Symphony Hall, but Boston Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker is always a treat as well.