There are new faces, but it’s the same gleaming oak bar, maybe even the same comfy stools. Just one – after five years of sobriety and the month he’s had, surely just one drink ... it’s the holidays, after all. One mug of cheer to lift the spirits ...

Here it was early April and I was worried about Christmas that year – and I was just 10 days sober. I was asking myself: What was I thinking when I made the decision to quit drinking? Was I in my right mind, could/would I stick to that commitment? Was my drinking really that bad? Entertaining these questions, I honestly felt I had gone insane.

Today my life is truly a miracle. I am so humbly grateful, and I am really great. I attend at least four meetings a week. I have been taught that the successful people in AA., who stay sober, attend regular meetings. I practice the principle "live and let live". I am one of the lucky ones that "get it"

It is easy to lose sight of our spiritual grounding in the glitter and commercialism of the holidays. Viewing each day as God-filled and thinking "holy days" instead of "holidays" could keep us better connected to our Higher Power when we most need that connection.