A holiday message from AgedOut.com‘s founding project lead.

When I aged out of care there was one day a year I loathed, and it’s called Christmas. One day a year I was reminded about family private. While all my friends were excited about their mom’s cooking, presents, and seeing their favourite uncle, I was trying to figure out how I could sleep for 24 hours and skip the day. I wasn’t going to have any of the fun, and I was too ashamed to let anyone know I didn’t have anywhere to go on Christmas day.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a unique experience for us ex-foster kids. So here is how I survived the dreaded Christmas day…

  1. I rented all the movies. Back in my day (I’m about to date myself here) I would go to Rogers and pick out seven VHS (this was what they had before DVD players) movies. Seven because I knew I would be awake for at least 14 hours that day and each movie, give is take, is about two hours. I picked out all my favourites and a couple I’ve never seen before. Now, you can just queue up all your favourites on Netflix and settle in.
  2. I bought all the comfort food. For me, it’s basically dip and then some things to put in the dip, like chips and veggies. I would get different kinds of cheese and the softest baguettes. I would have mac n cheese and Dr. Pepper.
  3. I worked. If I could work that day, I did. First, you get some mad cash for working Christmas day and you’re pretty much guaranteed to work that day because all the people with family privilege want the day off.
  4. I went to the movies. Believe it or not but movie theatres are open on Christmas day and they are busy! You can easily find a seat where it looks like you’re in a group.
  5. I lied. Eventually, my friends discovered that I was alone on Christmas and invited me to family gatherings. I was ashamed to tell them I’m a foster kid, so I told them that I recently moved to Vancouver to work. I don’t want to promote lying at all, but if you feel like I did, it is an option. I will tell you though, that most people care more about if they get gravy than whether you were in foster care.
  6. I walked. The city is so quiet on Christmas day, so it kind of feels like you’re in a zombie apocalypse because there is no one around.
  7. I volunteered. There are lots of places looking for volunteers on Christmas day. This is a cool thing because you get to be with other people, and chances are you’re going to get a turkey dinner.
  8. And lastly, surround yourself with other foster kids—you know they would rather hang out than look up Grumpy Cat memes all day!
What’s AgedOut.com all about?

AgedOut.com is a website for young adults who were in government care in BC. It’s an up-to-date warehouse of information for young adults to help with the transition from government care to adulthood. AgedOut.com has information on money & income, education, health & wellness, housing, personal life, ID needs and more! AgedOut.com is also really useful for youth who are still in government care. It can help you plan your transition to adulthood.