roadie, you read my mind. yesterday i started a thread re the holidays. years ago i would distract myself and allow the holidays to go by pretty much unnoticed. i was alone a lot at first cuz i left my abusive husband and family was too dysfunctional to visit. i knew tho that i had been given the greatest gift of all-sobriety. and that was all i needed. i did go to an enormous lot of AA meetings during early sobriety and holidays. it kept my focus on being grateful what i did have rather than not have. i hung out before and after meetings to chat with sober friends. anything and everything to keep my focus on my sobroety.
we all have our own ways of previously drinking. i didn't associate the holidays as a time for a drinking spree cuz i drank 24/7 anyway. so being sober 24/7 was less of a job.
as for the stresses of holidays i still have some. to avoid that i start preparing for gift purchases early in the season. it provides me with less anxiety. being sober, the thing i cherish most is my serenity. i will go to awesome lengths to not lose it.
this year i will be on a road trip to see my son and his family. so a little stressor there. i'm taking my reading material for quiet moments. i also plan to discuss alcoholism to my 12 yr.old grand daughter. it's time. so much peer pressure out there at earlier ages. so that'll be a mini-meeting.
so in short what i feel helps all of us with awareness...this is a season of gratitude for multiple reasons. sobriety being one. if i felt i needed to i'd race to a meeting, etc. my life depends on it.