When I was drinking, going home for the holidays was a huge drag. At my parents� house, I couldn�t drink as much as I wanted to and I couldn�t do drugs. I joked with my friends that going home for the holidays was like going into rehab.

This is not to say that my parents don�t drink. They do, and even encourage light to medium drinking among their offspring. I just never understood the point of light to medium drinking.

In the past, I always partied like a freak the night before my sister and I left to drive to our parents�. In the morning I�d be sick and pathetic, and I�d whine my way out of doing my share of the driving. I�d feel like crap all that day. By the end of the second day of the visit, if I even consented to stay that long, I�d be desperately trying to look up old high school friends to go out drinking with me. When that failed, I�d impatiently wait for everyone to go to sleep so I could drink myself silly.

After the visit, I�d always be so glad to get back to my apartment. I told myself it was because I got homesick for my own place. Whatever. I always celebrated getting back with a trip to the liquor store.

This year, though, I am looking forward to the holidays with a whole different feeling. I�m really really psyched for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I�m looking forward to driving home with my sister, and doing my share of the driving. I�m looking forward to seeing my parents and the cat. I want to eat, help, talk, take walks, and lounge around with my family. It�s going to be great.

I like this change, this sober family-loving thing, because it�s not debatable. It�s all good. Not drinking allows me to spend better time with my family. There�s no other way to look at it. There�s no tempting subversive alternative. It�s just better. It�s a better way to live, and I�m doing it.

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