I think you need to change your attitude, first instead of "abstaining" and "giving up" alcohol you need to think of it more as quitting alcohol, throwing away that unneccessary crutch; and 2nd don't think of excuses for why you might drink remind yourself how much easier all of that 'stress' will be to handle w/o having to deal with hangovers or needing a drink. Holidays are difficult and stressful for many people and many of them deal with it w/o drinking. 5 months after I got sober my mother passed away, I didn't think I could deal with traveling and sitting with her and my family for 4 days before she died then having the funeral...no one in my family thought I could deal with it either. But I surprised everyone including myself by calmly dealing with everything and being about the strongest person there all w/o a drop of poison. You can get through tough times w/o a crutch and it will make you stronger.