Home for the Holidays: Can I Serve Alcohol?
When families gather for the holidays, the mood is festive. Holiday entertaining seems to call for special treats. We labor in the kitchen to prepare special foods for our loved ones. We indulge ourselves with exotic delicacies and traditional family dishes passed down from each generation to the next. In America, distinctive foods and drinks help define our holiday celebrations. Certain wines are often served with holiday meals. Spirits garnish our holiday eggnog and hot cider. After dinner coffee is laced with brandy or Irish creme. Americans seem to like their holidays with a little bit of alcohol. So how do you handle the whole alcohol issue when a family member of friend is recovering from alcohol addiction?
The easiest and most empathic solution is to serve only non-alcoholic beverages. In fact, many people concerned about diabetes, heart attack and other health issues are already watching their alcohol intake or have sworn off alcohol altogether. There are some wonderful sparkling grape and fruit juices available today that provide a festive, bubbly drink without the alcoholic content. Sparkling white grape and apple juices make good stand-ins for sweet white wines. Sparkling cranberry juices and cider are tarter and make an excellent accompaniment to holiday meals.
At holiday parties, non-alcoholic punches and virgin cocktails provide traditional celebratory ambience without the alcohol. Magazines and the internet are excellent recipe sources. Serving punch as opposed to individual drinks is an excellent way to shift the focus away from alcohol. Serving punches that can also be enjoyed by children and teens emphasizes the family aspect of the holiday get-togethers. It also removes any potential embarrassment for the recovering alcoholic.
Being singled out or having his new-found status as a recovering alcoholic announced to family members or friends he doesn’t see often can be difficult and embarrassing for an individual recovering from alcohol addiction. There is a naggingly persistent social stigma attached to alcohol abuse that causes many recovering alcoholics or their families to hide the problem. Anything you can do as a hostess to eliminate potential embarrassment will allow your family member to enjoy the holidays without fear of condemnation.
Serving non-alcoholic beverages, either exclusively or as a choice, allows the recovering alcoholic to practice abstinence without calling attention to himself. A simple announcement to all that both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages are being served allows each person to make his own beverage selection. What you should never do is simply hand a person an alcoholic beverage without asking for his preference, and you should never press a drink or another drink on someone who has refused. Maintaining sobriety can be extremely difficult in social situations. You may be unaware that the friend you press a drink upon is a recovering alcoholic. Do not out of social largesse become the reason your loved one relapsed back into alcoholism.
