Every Christmas, hookup young adults are faced with the same routine: some sort of Matzo Ball Christmas Eve, watching the Macy’s Christmas Day Parade (usually hungover), volunteering or watching the NBA, then going to eat Chinese food and watching a movie.

With that in mind, the question I have is this: Why can’t Chinese food and a movie be a possible first date? I know in my previous post, I stated an ideal first date would be coffee, but the Christmas date presents an interesting option.

In my opinion, the Chinese food “dinner” date is different than a regular “dinner date,”  as Chinese restaurants are usually the only ones open on Christmas Day. It is rather low pressure, since you were already going to go to a Chinese food restaurant anyway. In addition, a successful Chinese food date, with enough time, could lead to the New Year’s Date that you have been seeking, whether a simple pre-New Year’s drink, or that person you are desperately looking to have a sloppy make-out session with at midnight. Not only that, but chances are high your friends will probably be at the same Chinese food location that night, so what better way for this “prospect” to meet them and attempt to make a good first impression on them, as well as you?

Now, let’s take the opposite angle: What if your date doesn’t work out? What if you have no connection whatsoever in between bites of endamame and sushi, and now dread going to the movie?

Well, think of it this way: If you’re going to see Lincoln, you can sit watching an awesome three hour movie in silence, while feeling good that you ate moderately healthy at a reasonable price, and are now that much closer to finding the person who you CAN stand a whole Chinese food and movie date with.

I am a woman who loves sports. It seems obvious enough to assume that men would love a woman who love sports, but – here’s the catch – men don’t want to marry women who are obsessed with sports. It may sound sexist but it’s true. At one point I could count dozens upon dozens of guy friends who would have no problem watching the big game with me and they would be impressed by my knowledge and they would tell me I’m their idea of a perfect girl… but I was single. Because the truth of the matter is most men may say they love a girl who knows her sports, but they really want a girly-girl.

These guys saw me as their really cool female friend. The keyword here is “friend” and the lack of the word “girl” preceding it. We would spend all day Sunday and after work on Monday nights during football season at a sports bar. I received the mass text all the guys got letting us know where to meet up to watch the World Series games. I felt accepted into the exclusive boy’s club and therein laid the problem: I was now one of “the guys.” No girl wants to be one of the guys because then they stop seeing you as a girl. And if you’re a single girl, that’s not a good thing.

The tables finally turned a couple years ago when I had the audacity to leave during the sports version of Mecca: football and the World Series at the same time – because of Yom Kippur. That’s when I realized there are other things in life besides sports and that included religion and dating. I could still be that sports-savvy chick but I needed to prioritize. Who wins the Red Sox-Yankees game is not a matter of life or death, living the rest of my life single and dying alone is.

And then I met Gabe. Gabe had tons of traits I was looking for, including loving sports, and loved that I loved sports but still saw me as a lady. It sounded perfect… on paper. Gabe took having a sports-knowledgeable girlfriend as a challenge. Whereas I was trying to tone down the tomboy in me, he was trying to compete in a “who knows more?” game. He would reel me in with trivia and then argue the answer running to his computer to prove me wrong. He was “the man” and there was no way a girl could know more about sports than him. He liked that I knew sports but he liked being right even more, even if it meant making me feel dumb. This side of him was such a turn-off that I had to break it off. I didn’t want to be that sports-crazed person anymore and I didn’t want to date one either but I also wasn’t willing to completely give up something I loved to find a man.

My husband loves the NBA and the UFC and doesn’t care for much else sports-wise (he likes to say he is bored to tears by baseball). I love the NFL. So since we don’t have a common sport, we found other hobbies to enjoy together. I go to football games with my Dad leaving my hubby to do his own thing and no longer let a game on TV interfere with a meal together or taking advantage of a beautiful day outdoors. It sounds weird, but I feel like by not letting sports rule my life, I’ve let love in its place. I no longer have the urge to talk smack to the guy in a Raiders jersey, and I don’t feeling like I’m missing out on anything. In fact, by realizing that sports isn’t everything, I’ve actually gained even more.