A Holiday Snifter

Drinking and the holidays are a great match.  You're very stressed by trying to get all of the shopping, cooking, cleaning, cards, gifts, tree, decorations, cookies and family time in, plus, let's face it, the holidays have some really good alcoholic drinks.  It makes it the hardest time of the year for a recovering alcoholic, in my opinion,

The holidays are one of the main reasons people have a hard time giving up drinking, but not for the stress or the festive drinks, but rather for the memories we have of the better times, when alcohol hadn't ravaged the mind and body.  I used to love a little warm Drambuie after Thanksgiving dessert was over.  With my Christmas prime rib, I would savor a fine Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, and a nice dry champagne on New Year's was always fun, especially since these were drinks I didn't have any other time of the year.

When you try to give up drinking, those fond holiday memories are usually the hardest hurdles to jump.  You fall back to the few times when your drinking had a level of dignity and class to validate guzzling cheap booze the rest of the year.  To get sober, you have to give it up completely, and so goes the limited 'nice' drinking you have left in your life.

The stress was there this year, unbearable at times, but I never went to the point of thinking about alcohol as a cure.  I wrapped myself in my kids, and a nice cup of coffee, when the frustration got to be too much.  This year, I didn't have the ghost of a pain/pleasure relationship weighing me down as hard as it did before.  It was still tough.  It will always be tough.

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope 2015 is wonderful for you.