How Singles Plan To Spend Christmas - single African-Americans - Brief Article

ITS Christmastime in the city," and young, single African-Americans from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., are looking to celebrate the season with family, parties, volunteering, and spreading generous amounts of holiday cheer.

Whether it's bringing Christmas to children living in a homeless shelter or going to their company's formal holiday party, Black singles are finding different ways to deck the halls.

But they all have at least one thing in common: As Christmas Day approaches, they won't be off on an island somewhere soaking up the sun's rays while a guy in a lightweight Santa costume asks if they've been naughty or nice. These young professionals will be spending their holiday with family and friends, giving of themselves and to others.

Indeed, singles who are away from home for the holidays or who, for some reason, can't be with their families choose to spend time with one another, infusing themselves with the holiday spirit. They throw or attend holiday parties or volunteer to bring Christmas to those who need a boost. It's that spirit of togetherness that drives these young Brothers and Sisters.

"Christmas is about sharing and spending time with your family, especially since I'm not there [in Chicago] anymore," says Danielle Smith, 23, of Alexandria, Va.

In addition to spending quality time with her family, Smith, a technological analyst for Andersen Consulting, will attend her company's formal dinner-dance. "It's a lot of fun," Smith says. "It's a big celebration."

For Kerice Tucker, 27, of Chicago, the holidays are also a time for him to spend with family, including his five siblings (two of them live in the Chicago area, the other three live in Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles). The numerous branches of the family tree (his mother is the oldest of 11 children) reunite at his grandparents' small farm outside Memphis, Tenn.

Tucker, a biomedical engineer, says that while it will be good to be with his brothers and sisters, he's ecstatic over the chance to fly home to re-connect with his grandparents. "I really love getting back to see my grandparents, especially," says Tucker, a graduate of Northwestern University. "My

grandparents really were influential in my growing up. They really molded me."

Aside from the various holiday parties in Atlanta, where she recently moved, Joy Stephens, 26, a process engineer for Kimberly-Clark, will travel home to another city, Houston. There, she'll spend time with her mother, sister and her extended family. Her favorite cousin just recently had a baby girl, and Stephens will finally get to meet the new addition to the family.

But family isn't the only reason she's heading back home. She'll also get to spend time with her best friends from high school and enjoy Houston's booming nightlife.

"I spend Christmas in Houston every year," says Stephens, who has degrees from Spelman and Georgia Tech. "New Year's [Eve] is always up for grabs. Basically you find out which [party] is going to be the best and get there early."

One single Sister has turned what was once a hobby into an important ministry. Sheila Griffiths, a 29-year-old Kensington, Md., resident who moved to the United States from Liberia in 1978, is a liturgical dancer. This month, she will minister and dance at a diversity conference at Middlebury College in Vermont. Griffiths, a senior contracts specialist for an information technology firm outside Washington, D.C., says it's important for her to give to others during the holiday season.

"The whole spirit of Christmas has lost its focus; it has become so commercialized," says Griffiths, who also plans to take part in a singles spiritual retreat to Jamaica. "So for me, it's about really getting to the roots and understanding that we're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and keeping that throughout the holiday season."

Christian Dorsey gets in the spirit of the season through his work as the executive director for the Reading Connection, Inc., a non-profit organization that serves the Washington, D.C.-area's homeless community. The group teaches reading to children in homeless shelters and brings holiday cheer to the young people who wouldn't have any otherwise.

Dorsey, 29, will spend Christmas Day visiting family in Atlantic City, N.J., and in Philadelphia. But while he's in Washington, D.C., he'll play Santa "with an ethnic flair" for the children. The Reading Connection staff throws parties at all the shelters in hopes of giving their charges a nice holiday memory.

"Homeless children get the short shrift in all senses of the word," says Dorsey, a Georgetown University graduate. "The least that we can do, I believe, is give them something as close to the image of Christmas that we know they all have [but] they may not get being in the shelter."

Sometimes single Brothers and Sisters need to take a break from their harried 60-hour workweeks and high-pressure jobs to mix and mingle with friends. Tharren Clark is a computer consultant for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old Mobile, Ala., native plans to spend the first half of the holidays with friends partying at the hot clubs in L.A., then go home to visit his family in Mobile, and attend the holiday debutante balls.