Christmas & New Years Eve Help

A lot of people are looking forward to Christmas and New years eve. However, for many relatives to people with drug- or alcohol problems, these holidays may be very rough. Instead of peace, calmness and rest, the family may go through disappointment, anxiety or quarrels. 

Are you afraid that the upcoming holiday will be destroyed because of excessive drinking? Think about the following questions and suggestions to see if your answers might help you a little bit on the way. 

Questions and examples: 

• Are you able to celebrate Christmas somewhere else? If possible, be ready with a back-up plan if something were to go wrong.  

• What can you do if you can't handle the situation, but don't have anywhere else to go? Take a walk? Be with a pet whom gives you happiness? Talk to someone? Something else? 

• Think about who you can call if something were to go wrong/if you're sad. 

• Talk to the person with the addiction in advance. Tell him/her what you want the upcoming Christmas/New years eve to look like, what you're expecting. A suggestion might be to tell him/her what you/you and the rest of your family will do if things would go out of hand with the alcohol/drugs. (Important!: Don't give any ultimatum if you can't maintain them when the situation comes up!)

• If the person becomes aggressive, leave him/her be! Avoid any type of argumentation. Leave the house as soon as possible by yourself/with the rest of your family and call someone you trust, or the police, depending on the situation.

•  If possible, leave the person for a while and do something else by yourself/with the rest of your family. Something that brings you harmony and joy.  

If you have any experiences of these types of problems or if you have any advise that might help other relatives to people with alcohol- or drug addiction, please write a comment! This may help people in similar situations! 

Remember: it is not your fault!

Take care!