One Christmas at a Time

CHRISTMAS USED to be the worst time of year for me, as it is for many other recovering alcoholics. I have vivid memories of numerous Christmases wrecked by my own alcoholism or the actions of my drunken parents and other relatives. It seemed Christmas was always the time of year that the current man in my life decided to leave me or, as my second ex-husband did, to throw me, our gifts, my pills, and my booze out of the house onto the street. My third ex-husband put his fist through a closet door on Christmas Day, and insisted he should have put it through my head instead.