Sober at Christmas

lindtee

I am coming up to my 6th sober Christmas and although I am never tempted to have a drink, I do wish that everything at this time of year was not so intertwinned with alcohol. What are other people's thoughts on being sober at Christmas?

I am lucky that my immediate family are not big drinkers so besides the (very small) bit of socialising I do, I do not see any drunkenness around this time of year. I am looking forward to my class Christmas party as we are not back in college until 2014 as we are out on placement, but I will most likely leave soon after the meal as there is only so much of drunk class-mates a sober person can take!

Sunnyisland

My thoughts of christmas these days are a much more positive way of thinking,Before the whole festive season was based around the drink, Where,with who and have I got enough, Now I actually enjoy it and look forward to it and waking up on christmas day brand new is some feeling :-).

I do a lot more visits now to with no fear of D&D but I am also well aware of when to move on just before the serious drinking in homes kicks of,Then I head home and watch tv and just chill out happy in the knowledge that I will be fresh on St Stephens day with another plus that I remember it all.

hubba

I was at a big Christmas party last week and yes, the majority got blind drunk, some even embarrassing themselves before the meal was over but there was about a handful of people not drinking or drinking very little for a variety of reasons (sport in the morning, pregnancy, feeling under the weather etc) so I made sure to pop around the room to chat with them.

To be honest, I felt no envy at all looking at the drinkers. For the most part I was just glad I was no longer under that pressure and glad I knew I would not be dying in the morning.

One thing to note - it's very sad to see a girl having made a huge effort to look good on the night falling about the place in a short skirt flirting with colleagues. No envy there at all.

On a general note, again I'm just glad to be out of that whole scene and just meet up friends for meals or events in the sports club, or pop in to see relatives at home rather than long nights in a pub when the focus is just drinking and I get bored quickly. I remind myself though that this is not boring because I'm sober, it's just BORING so at that point I take myself off home.

Wattle

Xmas is very simple for me really. The mates that I drank with in the old days are long gone so I'm rarely if ever around people who are on a binge. My time is spent with close family who are all totally supportive of my non-drinking ways. I'm also popular as the designated driver for those who want to have a glass or two on the day. It's all good.

J_E

Fortunate enough that nobody in the family currently drinks so it is never even an issue. Usually we drink non-alcoholic spritzers at dinnertime and fruit/minerals whenever. If you're with the family why would you need the alcohol anyway