Moving away from home places you many miles away from the friends and family with whom you’d usually celebrate the holidays.

But there are lots of things newcomers can do to make a happy Christmas for themselves.

WBKB reporter Bethany Ricciardi said this Friday will be her first Christmas away from her home in New Hampshire, having been able to spend Christmas break with her family while in college. She’ll miss getting to see her seven-year-old nephew open presents on Christmas day, and she’s put up a tree in her apartment but one with no presents underneath.

“So it is different,” she said. “You’ve got to stay happy and positive and busy, and reach out to family in other ways,” she said.

Plenty of locals have made suggestions of things for Ricciardi to do or see on the holiday, she said. Since coming to Alpena in June, she’s joined Living Hope Church as a way to get involved with the community. Another family in the congregation invited her to Thanksgiving with an area family, and on Friday she and coworker Neil Liwanag will see if local nonprofits need their help. She’ll also volunteer at St. Bernard’s Friendship Room, and will join other Living Hope members in passing out cookies to firefighters.

When Ricciardi was last in New Hampshire her mother had said she was thinking of celebrating Christmas in Florida, as Ricciardi’s brothers have moved away from home as well. Instead, they’ll all celebrate together, and she’s planning to call or video chat with them on Christmas morning.

Ricciardi’s also planning to have Christmas dinner with her friends from WBKB, she said. They’re mostly in the same age group as hers and are going through the same adjustments, so they all can relate.

Even those who move with their families have to adjust the way they celebrate or who’s on the guest list, although some are able to keep things largely the same.

John Abbitt started as Carmeuse Calcite Operation’s site operation manager in late summer, the same time his wife and two kids moved to Rogers City. The move hasn’t impacted their Christmas plans much. After Dec. 25 they’ll be visiting family elsewhere, then hosting family at their new home.

Santa knows about the family’s change of address as well.

“My son was a little worried there for a little bit until we informed him that Santa knows all that stuff,” he said.

After a Thanksgiving like any other, on which Alpena Meijer store director Warren Richter went to work at 5 a.m., he’s spending Christmas at home with his family. He’s been in retail for a number of years, 16 of them with Meijer, and working on Thanksgiving is part of the job.

Richter’s wife’s parents will be in town for Christmas after making a long trip from downstate, he said. For them, getting to come up north to visit with family is enjoyable, as they get to spend time away from the city. His oldest daughter, now attending college, will visit as well.

Fifteen of Richter’s coworkers have moved to Alpena, some with families, to open the store, and he said they’ve found it to be as welcoming as he has.

“It’s just nice to see in a community that’s been very warm and so receiving of myself and my family,” he said.

Rev. Polycarp Mblarawa said he’s also been greeted warmly, and said that Alpena started to feel like home within his first week of transferring from the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Traverse City.

Mblarawa joined the Diocese of Gaylord in 2011, he said, coming to the U.S. that year from his previous parish in Northeast Nigeria. His family has been displaced by violence committed by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, and the militants destroyed the diocese where he used to serve.

Naturally, Mblarawa’s family misses him, he said, but they know his mission as a priest means he must go wherever he’s needed. He talks to them on the phone and stays connected in other ways as well.

Mblarawa said he would typically go to his family’s home after celebrating Christmas mass in his parish in Nigeria. He’d tell his parents to look for families with less means than they, to share what surplus they have with those families and to leave their doors open for whoever wants to join.

Sending cards isn’t as big of a custom in Nigeria as people prefer to visit in-person, Mblarawa said, although it’s one he’d like to bring back with him. He’s seen how a simple handwritten note means so much to the people receiving them, even as communications technology advances. It’s a way of being with them for the celebration, even if the sender can’t actually make it there.

“And so that connection is always there, that’s what I see here, people will always find a way to remain connected to people, which is a wonderful thing,” he said.

Jordan Travis can be reached via email at jtravis@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jt_alpenanews. Read his blog, A Snowball’s Chance, at www.thealpenanews.com.