Those infernal keepers of statistics agree with you Ted. The holidays in general are EXTREMELY difficult for many folks. Since we're coming up to 2000 (a totally man-invented number) it's been ten times worse for a lot of folks who have fallen into apocalyptic theology. I've seen plenty of good folks trying to fend off (perceived) isolation lately. I sure don't have the answers (I'm better at questions anyway) but for a lot of years I would take the guitar and banjo and head off to the Harbourlight mission, Sunnybrook Hospital (lots of war vets) and any other place where some tunes might help.
Every Dec. 25 Heather and I have a gang of 12 or so folks over to share Christmas with us. It's pretty secular, cause we're agnostic, and half the group is Jewish, but there's no question that we feel very thankful to have a modest roof over our heads, and good folks to share it. Lots don't, and lots of them lost their homes through nothing more than bad luck.
One of the good things for me has been the discovery of Mudcat, and even though I've been too busy lately to do my usual hour per day, I know that it abounds with kind folks.
By the way, one of those new friends, Jeri, is coming ALL the way from New England to share Christmas with us. Now THAT'S neat!
Rick