The nice thing about the holiday season is that — even though you spend a lot of money — you can eat anything you want without calories. That’s right, nothing eaten during this magical period has any effect on your weight, so dig right into that banana cream pie, or open the box of chocolate fudge. If you really don’t want it, you can drop it by my house.

Because on Jan. 2, the calorie count in all meals automatically doubles. This is why you should rush off to take advantage of that discount offer to join your local gym, even though you know deep in your heart you’ll never darken its doors again.

I actually do go to my gym, but only to walk in the pool, which is a relaxing sport. And I don’t even have to pay, because my Medicare supplement gives me gym memberships for free. Yours might as well. You should check.

My typical way of spending New Year’s Eve these days is sitting home by myself, watching Christmas movies. I used to cover the Rose Parade every year for the Pasadena Star-News, which meant going to bed early and getting up before dawn, so I lost the desire to party. Plus, every venue is absurdly expensive and as people say, it’s Amateur Night. But there is always a small part of me that feels like a pathetic loser for not being out twerking with strangers in my best sequined track suit.

This year, I’m doing something different. I was on the phone with one of my oldest friends when she told me how much she envied me and all the trips I take. She’s retired and on a tight budget. I told her I had airline miles, so we could figure out somewhere to go and I’d take her.

After much contemplation, I decided we should go to Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve. From my scientific survey, it seems like it’s quite the scene, with the Strip shut down, hundreds of thousands of partyers on the street and a big noisy bash on Fremont Street.

Normally, I dislike crowded places. It takes too long to get food. But I was willing to give it a try. I called my friend and after I made my suggestion, there was a pause. A long pause. I could tell she was pondering whether I might be insane.

“Oh, come on,” I urged her. “Let’s not be old ladies. Maybe we’ll hate it. But maybe we won’t.”

In my mind, even if the scene was too crazy and we retreated back to our hotel, it was still better than sitting home and watching TV.

After much deliberation, my friend finally agreed. Another friend also signed on, and so three creaky old broads are heading to Vegas for New Year’s Eve. I’m using frequent flier miles for us to fly, because no flipping way I’m getting on the road to Vegas during the holidays. Yikes. I can only imagine the endless line of cars as they crawl, 1 mph, over the mountains and through the desert. Right? Even the sight of outlet malls doesn’t make that worthwhile.

They’ve been talking about building that train line to Vegas since I can’t remember when, but they never seem to be able to get it together. The latest I heard was that they’re already building a bullet train from Rancho Cucamonga to Vegas that’s going to cost $400 for a round trip ticket, when it’s finally completed in, say, 2028. Um, yeah. I’ll be waiting in line for that one.

I love riding trains so I hope it succeeds, but considering that I can fly to Vegas on sale for $34, the odds of me visiting lovely Rancho Cucamonga anytime soon are pretty remote.

The biggest problem for me in going to Vegas for NYE is that the hotels all cost more than my first car did. But as an inveterate traveler, I never give up searching. Instead of $700 for two nights, I was able to find a Marriott by the convention center that was much cheaper, because as you can imagine, no one’s going to a convention during the holidays.

That’s actually one of the hotel tips I used to dispense when I wrote my Cheapo Travel column. To save money, do the opposite. Book a business hotel during vacation periods, because it’s going to be half the price of a resort hotel. And book a resort hotel when people are working and not resorting. Again, cheaper.

Forgive me, but it’s time for me to go eat some fudge. I don’t want to waste those free calories.

Want to write to me? Email me at mfisher@scng.com. I especially love it when you correct my grammar.