This time of year, “Surviving the Holidays” is a frequent and necessary topic at meetings. And with all the family reunions, neighborhood parties and business receptions, the traditional gifts of wine or fine malt whiskey—the traditional Holiday temptations placed before the recovering addict are many and varied and sometimes bring back warm feelings of past celebrations. .

This year is different. The past norms of the Season don’t seem to be appropriate, maybe not even possible. Look, most of us haven’t been to any gathering of folks since mid-March. We have wrestled around and decided to make up for this absenteeism by using computers to speak to one another. 

Sort of a gimmicky means of communication, but it’s better than nothing.

One particularly sad fact is the necessary curtailing of family gatherings. We saw plans for Thanksgiving cancelled at the last minute, driven perhaps by an escalation of the number of cases in the hosts’ city, or someone contracts a seasonal cold or youngsters may have been exposed at school. All eyes were focused on aggressive defensive measures to avoid the tragedy of this raging pandemic.

So, what do we say to all this curtailment of the usual past joyous Holiday customs?

Our old reliable prayer gives us this answer. Its answer is avoiding worrying about those things we can’t do anything about.

To meet this, I need to remember the teachings of the Program, “Into action, do something you can do, be grateful for what you still have, reach out to those who have been damaged.”

Here are some additional ideas. Work on the spiritual aspect of your life, take your own inventory and work to correct what needs to be corrected. Look for the fellowship of folks busy searching for the “way, the truth and the light,” read a chapter in the Big Book or 12 and 12, call a troubled new member, chair a program for those confined to jail or an institution, write a meditation for “The Red Door,” spend an extra amount of time with your spouse and children, attend a Holiday Breakfast sponsored by the local general service committee.

But when we do run into that wall, and you’re over-whelmed, what can we do? We get to a meeting, read the Big Book, call our sponsor, work with a newbie, make the coffee, lead the group discussion for a month, talk to that new person.

And remember, “we never give up.” We know that if we keep coming back to the Program, it works for us and we need not suffer those Holiday Blues again!

Jim A/St X Noon, Cincinnati