Why some people are spending the holidays sans family: ‘My friends are more fun than my relatives’

The holidays can be an opportunity to build new traditions with friends and neighbors. Photograph: svetikd/Getty Images

The holidays are often thought of as a time for family – a time to pack bags and hop on trains, planes and automobiles to go see people with whom you share DNA.

But for some, this might not be possible, or particularly desirable. Some live far from their biological families. Others are not particularly close, or have fraught relationships. This can be challenging, but it can also be an opportunity to build new traditions with friends and neighbors.