These 12 simple and timeless tips can help you stay sober over the holidays. (from the December 1978 Hummer, adapted from Box 459)
- Line up extra A.A. activities for the holiday season.
- Be host to A.A. friends, especially newcomers.
- Keep your A.A. telephone list handy.
- Find out about special holiday parties.
- Skip any drinking occasions you are nervous about.
- If you have to go to a drinking party, keep some candy handy.
- Don’t think you have to stay late.
- Go to church, any church.
- Don’t sit around brooding.
- Don’t start now, getting worked up over holiday temptations.
- Enjoy the true beauty of holiday love and joy.
- “Having had a . . . . . . .”
Happy Holidays From Duffy’s
This holiday season, material gifts will be purchased, wrapped and exchanged in a spirit of joy and merriment. Christmas dinners will be enjoyed, and songs will be sung. And for those of us, who, by the grace of a God of our understanding, now stand with more dignity and hope than ever before, our spirit of giving must continue.
Remember this holiday season, that the giving of ourselves is the true gift, and perhaps the primary purpose of our own miracle of recovery. Share your recovery this holiday season with those who still suffer as you once did.
We pray that your holidays are filled with the warmth of love and family, the feelings of joy and gladness, and the dignity that a sober holiday season can bring.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!