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Once you notch a few Holidays or Birthdays under your proverbial Belt, my experience is that such Sober Markers become The New Normal. I have no interest in Booze Replacements like NA Beer. So, drinking something like fizzy Grape Juice is just fine by me. It's a special exception for Holidays. My other fall-backs are Lemonade, or Seltzer. Flavored or not.
The one mental imperative I observe is to not wind up the only non-Drinker at some Holiday Dinner. PITA. As a Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Sticker goes: 'If It's Not Fun, Why Do It?' <- Sums it up for me. It's not because I'm worried about grabbing and swilling some Champagne. Can't stand the smell, really. It's because I'd rather nap up against a Cactus than sit around while Folks purportedly enjoy their Alcohol swilling as some perfunctory part of 'Celebrating'. I staunchly believe they have their right to celebrate in that manner. In turn, I have a right to enjoy a Sober environment as a matter of, shall we say, Equal Rights. My rarely-drinking Wife abstains if she wants me to go to such Holiday Dinners. My sense of obligation to The Drinking World is a big ole zero.
I believe that stripping out Alcohol from Holidays or Concerts or watching Sports is an essential aspect of re-tooling my Brain to not retain Alcohol as some sort of Event-associated, go-to Beverage. This strategy has worked well for me; even when I [rarely] have to get kinda militant about it. Ain't nobody gonna watch out for my Sobriety except me. And, I'm totally cool with that...
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