If you're spending Christmas alone this year then #JoinIn could help. The campaign has been running for six years and helps people get through a day traditionally spent with family and friends.
Image: Reuters/T. Gentile
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An online campaign to help connect people who are spending Christmas alone entered its sixth year on Monday.
Lonely revelers posted to Twitter with the hashtag #JoinIn to connect with others. Comedian Sarah Millican started the campaign in 2011 to help people who were involuntarily alone.
"If you're alone and feeling lonely, follow the hashtag #joinin and start chatting with others there. Maybe tweet what you're up to: what you're eating, watching on telly etc," Millican wrote on Twitter.
"Think of others. Have good chats, kids. We're all here for each other."
This year the campaign received a nod from Ed Miliband, MP and former leader of the Labour Party.
People used the hashtag to commiserate about the circumstances that led to their solitary Christmas.
Others used it to share images of their pets in various Christmas costumes.
People who were spending Christmas with family and friends also Tweeted to help share the joy and offer support.
And some people shared messages and images to keep people's spirits up.
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Christmas in prison
Celebrating the holidays behind bars isn't fun. But in the Nelson Hungria prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, inmates make the best of it. They dress up and decorate their cells to win prizes - and keep loneliness at bay.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Cell celebration
What looks like a normal holiday concert at first is anything but. The women in Santa costumes are actually inmates at the Nelson Hungria prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each year, they put on a Christmas celebration that includes religious plays like this one.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Whose bars are the best?
The hundreds of female inmates at Nelson Hungria compete with each other to see whose cell has the most beautiful Christmas decorations. It's not an individual effort but a group project, since up to 50 women share one cell in the prison that's part of the sprawling Bangu penitentiary complex.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Santa's helper
Decorating is not the only discipline in the annual Christmas competition. Many of the inmates also dress up in an effort to win Best Costume. This young woman went for a Christmas elf look. Prison officials have said that the event helps the women bond.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Creative recycling
For the decorations and costumes, like this Mrs. Claus dress, the women use whatever material they can get their hands on: empty soda bottles, tissue paper and styrofoam, to name a few.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Better than most
The stars, the tree, the hats - Christmas spirit can be achieved even in a crowded cell. Conditions in many other Brazilian prisons are worse, and not just for the lack of decorations. Human rights activists have blasted inhumane conditions like overcrowded cells, unbearable stenches and roach infestations.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Happy holidays - at least to some extent
The inmates at Nelson Hungria serve time for crimes ranging from burglary to homicide. The annual Christmas competition and celebration is something to look forward to for the many women who don't receveive any visitors over the holidays.
Image: Reuters/P. Olivares
Rules are rules
Directors from other prisons come in to judge the competition. The winners score prizes ranging from name-brand hair products to stationary fans and flat-screen TVs. The celebration still ends like every other day at Nelson Hungria, though: with a heavy door falling shut, locking the prisoners in.
