Grapevine Online Exclusive

Red Sugar Cubes

She found the spirit of the holidays outside a cocktail

During my last holiday season before sobriety, I tried hard to infuse myself with the spirit of giving and service, hoping that charitable activities would alleviate the malaise that hovered over me day and night. I spent about five minutes considering which volunteer activities would offer the greatest amount of satisfaction for the fewest unpleasant tasks. I decided to volunteer with the SPCA, standing in front of store windows at a department store to encourage people to adopt puppies that flopped around in shredded newspaper in the windows where mannequins usually stood. Had I been a... Login to read more
Not a subscriber? Click here to subscribe.

Related Items:

Holiday Party
Running into a member of the Fellowship helped him through it

Keeping the Door Open
An AA makes sure the meeting space is open on Christmas

Christmas Past, Christmas Present
An AA who relapsed compares that year's holiday with this one

Trip to Tehachapi
A man remembers what it used to be like at the holidays