Editorial
I came into AA in the March and I remember during the summer months, starting to worry about Christmas - the drinks, the socials, the pressure. I was told by other members of the
Fellowship to ‘keep it in the day’ and not to think too far ahead. If only I had trusted them I would have saved myself all that worry in those months leading up to December!
By the time winter arrived, something was shifting inside my head - I started to feel more settled and comfortable in sobriety. Historically I always hated Christmas and for the first time ever, myself and my husband spent the festive period apart during my first year in AA. I ‘let’ him go home to his parents and I stayed at our home in Scotland. I awoke on Christmas Day to a heavy blanket of crisp, white snow. I walked the dogs and we were the first to make footprints. It was that kind of snow that brings a silence to the landscape, and for the first time ever, I realised my head was quiet. There was no constant narrative waffling utter nonsense, something I had thought everyone experienced before I got sober! I had peace and a degree of serenity. At the end of the day I went to my local meeting as normal.
What I thought would be the normal stress-filled time of year became a calm, quiet oasis and an important memory in early sobriety. Since then, I have allowed myself to enjoy Christmas and myself and my husband will often spend it apart to ensure those special to us have the best Christmas they can hope for. AA gave me so much more than stopping drinking - it gave me a conscience and love for others.
Cath W, Editor
[email protected]
Contents
0 The Twelve Steps
1 Contents and Preamble
2 The Twelve Traditions
3 Editorial
4 Sobriety During Winter
5 We Don’t Get Winters Now
6 Roundabout Wordsearch
7 Sobriety at Christmas
8 What Would You Do Differently?
9 Roundabout Themes
10 Feelings
15 Remaining Teachable
16 The Scottish National Convention
i Conventions and Gatherings
ii-iv Group changes & Intergroups
17 Fellowship Diaries and Calendar
18 The Roundabout Interview
20 My Gratitude Both To and For AA
21 In The Land of Fire and Ice
23 Answers to Wordsearch
24 Uni Days
25 Highway to Hell
26 Sobriety in Winter
28 Literature Extracts
30 History Corner
32 Roundabout Subscription Form
33 The Twelve Concepts