December 24, 2025

Merry Christmas Eve. Only one day remaining. The plan today is simple. I'm taking the turkey out to thaw for tomorrow. we'll be going to the Christmas Social today at Club 24 and probably to a meeting tonight. 

December 23, 2025

 Two days until Christmas. I guess we can say Christmas is the day after tomorrow. The black book meeting is today. If you are not familiar with Freedom Foundation, then you probably do not know what that is. It is a transition house for men in the early stages of recovery from alcohol, drugs, or gambling. The black book meeting is the annual christmas gratitude meeting for residents, staff, and board members past and present. I lived there in 1998 so I'm a past resident, and I worked there for many years so I'm a past staff member also. My word today is sponsorship. Currently, I sponsor a few residents at the House and when I go to the black book meeting I'm bringing a sponcee with me. He has never lived there but he is as they say a friend of freedom foundation.

Later today I will probably meet with someone to whom I am a service sponsor. And then, this evening it is my home group and in that group I offer my services as temporary sponsor to newcomers who might need it.

So, sponsorship is definitely something that I do.

December 22, 2025

Three days until christmas. Not a whole lot going on today. Tomorrow is the annual black book gratitude meeting at Freedom Foundation and I'll be going to that. Christmas Eve I air my christmas podcast. It's a bunch of christmas songs done by R & B artists. I'll also be attending the annual christmas social at the local club. And Christmas day we are cooking a turkey with all the fixings for us, our son and one of my sponcees. But today, I might do some last minute shopping.

December 21, 2025

 Four days until christmas. I bought us a gift yesterday. One of those keurig coffee makers. It will get a lot of use here. It says it brews hot coffee and iced coffee, but with the iced coffee, you just put ice cubs in the cup so really aren't they all able to do that. I see from looking at the directions that there is a special button to press for the iced coffee so I guess they are not all capable of it.

Today is Sunday so we start with church. I made some shortbread thumbprint cookies for the coffee hour afterward.

The month district GSR meeting is this afternoon. I don't feel the greatest but it is my responsibility to be there so I'll be there. After all, if everyone thinks that someone else is making the coffee then the coffee won't get made.

December 19, 2025

 Six days until christmas. I have friday mornings to myself so I slept in today. I meet with a guy I sponsor in the afternoon and then we have the meeting here tonight. I saw a gentleman last week who recalled meeting at our place years ago and another who said the first meeting he ever attended was at our place. We have been doing this for awhile and we have many fond memories of it.

One night in particular, an older lady had come to our meeting. She was a newcomer and this wasn't her very first meeting but it was her first time ever coming here. Nancy was working the evening shift that night so it was just me and three of the other male members of the group. We were going over that part in our book that talks about our sexual conduct. So, here's a woman at a meeting with four men, talking about sex. I didn't think she would ever come back. But, she did and we became her first home group.

December 18, 2025

 One week until Christmas, but you knew that already. I usually meet with a sponcee on Thursday morning and one on Thursday afternoon, but they both canceled so I get today off, right. Fat chance of that. I'll just do the other things I never have time to do.

I made a commitment yesterday to spend more time on the novel I am writing. We'll see how that goes.

December 17, 2025

 Wednesday again. 8 days until Christmas. It's about 9 am. Morning prayer, reading, and meditation is done. The weekly podcast is uploaded and blog posts are done. My word today is the slogan easy does it but do it. As I posted at the other blog, that reminds me to not take on too many things, but not to use that as an excuse to loaf or procrastinate.

I have a sponsorship session this afternoon. I'm going to a meeting tonight and I have to do a financial report for a committee I serve on, but really that's not a whole lot of stuff to do and it's spread out over the day and evening.

So I'm paying attention to the slogan. I think. 

December 16, 2025

 It's Tuesday. Garbage day. I wouldn't have remembered if I hadn't looked out the window. Luckily I did and luckily the truck was later than usual so I did not miss them.

I meet with someone this morning at 11.

I'll be baking cookies for our candlelight gratitude meeting tonight at our home group.

Other than that, it looks like just another day.

December 15, 2025

 Sometimes the day does not go as planned. I thought I would have today off. I serve on a couple of committees and this morning I got a call that one of the members did not receive the minutes from last month. I let him know that even though I am not the secretary, that i would look into it. To make a long story short, my secretary resigned so I had to do the minutes. Only took a couple of hours, but its done and next time I'll know better.

And, I figured that since I was doing those minutes, maybe I should do minutes for the other committee I am on. That was another two hours.

Then, I recorded the podcast I do on wednesdays. that was an hour.

So, no, I did not have the day to myself. Oh well.

December 14, 2025

 Sunday morning coming down as Johnny Cash used to say. The only thing coming down here is snow and it seems only lightly. But, this is Nova Scotia. If you don't like the weather just wait five minutes, it will change.

We plan on going to church this morning and then to a workshop at Club 24. Weather person says 2-4 cm today and 5-10 cm tonight, so looks like it might be white for christmas.

December 13, 2025

 Today is the mens breakfast at the church and it's also the blankets of hope at the little white church, so I woke up early today. I always have a few things to do each day and I wanted to make sure I had the time for those. Doing my morning readings, sharing my god box word, stuff like that. So, here we are at 5:15 am and those things are all done.

Easy peasy.

December 12, 2025

 Today will be a day  of sponsorship. I am going to hear one of the men I sponsor speak at a podium meeting, then coming back here to go over step one with another man I sponsor. Then, I host Serenity Corner, a meeting that a few of the men I sponsor attend.

My word today was forgiveness. I learn that through sponsorship. Sometimes, in the early days or weeks, one of them might relapse or make a bad decision. I have to remember the struggles I had in the beginning and that leads me to forgive them.

December 11, 2025

 This is my primary blog and not my god box blog. Sometimes they overlap. My word from my god box today is anonymity. So, I have been having conversations with various people about anonymity and how anonymous we should be. I had a meeting with a friend at ten and that went well. I re-connected with someone I haven't heard from in over a week. That is going well also. I have another meeting this afternoon and I'm going to a gratitude meeting tonight.

On the subject of anonymity, it's okay for me to say if I am in alcoholics anonymous, but it's not okay for me to say you are, if you are. Alcoholics Anonymous is not a secret society, although many of its members wish to keep their membership in it a secret. So, we sometimes advertise that we are available to those who need a solution to their drinking problem but we try not to brag that we are sober and dictate that everyone else should get sober too. That would defeat our purpose.

As with many problems, we tend to overthink things. If I make a post on social media that I have been sober for 28 years, and you click like on the post or make a comment about how long you've beem sober, then I have caused you to break your personal anonymity by making the original post. As if I had the power to make you react a certain way. Similar to all the posts about that orange guy down south, if I choose to make a comment on that post, then that is my choice. If you click like on my post about how long I've been sober, that's your choice. And, for the record, I have been sober 28 years and I didn't get this way by not talking about it. If I see an opportunity to be of service by mentioning it, then I will. I'm not doing it to get a pat on the back for a job well done.

I have to get going. I have a lot of cookies to bake and not just for tonight. Because of the festive season, there will be a lot going on over the next little bit, so I better get to it.

December 10, 2025

 Every morning, after I read from Courage to Change and 24 Hours A Day, I pick my god box word and share it with 75 or so people. I have been doing that over the past hour, but I haven't really been to bed yet. I figured I would take care of all the morning stuff, then take a nap until lunch time. I'm meeting someone later so I need to be up. Besides, if I sleep too long I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Not going to a meeting tonight. its the blue christmas service at the church and I'd rather not miss that. I'm not really sad or depressed but there will be others there who are and maybe I can offer support to them or maybe just being present might be enough.

December 9, 2025

 It's Tuesday again. It's garbage day. Recyclables and compost. I managed to get it to the curb last night. Damn, it was cold outside, but there's not much room in the trailer without garbage piling up in here, too. Nancy always says you have to step outside just to change your mind. But, really, we like living here. I remember when we first moved in back in 2006. we didn't think we'd be here that long. Here it is, almost twenty years later and we're still here. Well, we bought the trailer so its our home and the only way we're leaving is feet first.

Tuesday is home group night so I should bake some cookies.

We're planning to decorate the tree tonight. It's only a small tree. There's no room here for anything large. We don't have much to give each other anyway except ourselves. Just being together is enough though.

December 8, 2025

 Monday Monday. And whats that other one. Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. I'm retired so it's always the weekend and there  never really are any mondays. Well, there are Mondays for everyone else so if its a bank or something that's not open on Sunday, then it applies. Mondays at the soup kitchen were always meatloaf monday. Mondays when I worked at the transition house, it was always spaghetti or goulash. Now that I don't have any bosses to placate, monday is whatever type of food I want. And goulash does sound appealing.

December 7, 2025

 Sunday morning, getting ready for church. Yesterday was a Santa Claus day for me. We dressed up in red suits and delivered warm clothing to a couple of womens shelters. Then, I went to a children's christmas party and pretended I was the real Santa. It was fun. 

I shaved the beard last night. I only grow it for the little projects I do and then after they are done.....zip! I prefer to be clean shaven.

We have a committee meeting this afternoon. This one should go quickly. We'll see. My word today is acceptance. I don't know who will need to practice it more, me or the rest of the committee....

December 6, 2025

 Yesterday, I was having a conversation with someone about coincidences and how there are none. I shared a favorite quote of mine that "coincidence is how God protects his anonymity." Later today, I will put on my Santa suit and drive out to a local womens shelter to give them gifts of warm clothing and then to another community outreach to do the same thing. Then, this afternoon, I get to play Santa at a kids xmas party. So, I'll be spending my day performing services to my community. The word I picked from my god box today was Service. That's either a coincidence or it's God showing up at just the right time with just the right information to remind me that He is still there.

December 5, 2025

It's Friday. That means a lot to people who work 9 to 5 or 3 to 11 or whatever shift they work. I'm retired so I have a different view of each day. Friday is the day that Serenity Corner meets. Serenity Corner is a 12 step group that meets at my place and on zoom every Friday night.  We have been doing that or years, decades, actually, and it's something I look forward to. So, like other people, the normies so to speak, I look forward to Fridays, but not because it is the completion of the work week, but because it may well be the beginning of a new life for someone coming to their first meeting, and for those of us who have been doing this for a while, it is an opportunity to share some time with each other. 

December 4, 2025

 December 4, 1997 was the day I surrendered my drinking problem to God as I understood him. I was in a church just outside of Meductic, New Brunswick. I don't remember what faith the church was, but I remember saying a little prayer where I asked God for help. I'd like to say there was a blinding flash of light, that time stood still or the earth stopped moving, but there was none of that. I did feel a hand on my shoulder. I turned around quickly because I had thought I was alone in the church, and I was. I later realized that was probably the hand of God on my shoulder, reassuring me that it was going to be okay. And, it has been okay. For 28 years.

Sometimes, because life happens, I forget that I surrendered and I try to do things Bernie's way again, but my way does not work and almost always places me in situations where I shouldn't be, making decisions that I shouldn't be making. It is then that I remind myself that I am no longer driving the bus and I renew my resolution that I will do things His way, not mine.

December 3, 2025

 Just over 3 weeks until Christmas. Maybe you are also a person who counts the days until the big day, or maybe you're someone who wishes we would stop counting the days. Either way, it is still 22 days away. Christmas always comes early for me. For a number of years, we did a donation project in December. We did it earlier than Christmas Day so that the recipients would have their gifts before Christmas. The non profit has been dissolved, this year actually, but I still have a few places that I donate to, or I should say that we, my wife and I, donate to. So, I grow a beard and put on a red suit and try to bring a bit of love and kindness to those who aren't experiencing it. By doing that, I give myself a gift.

The word I got this morning from my god box was another slogan. Listen to learn. I equated it to the act of meditation. Prayer is talking with the guy upstairs (GUS) and meditation is listening for an answer and by listening, we learn to sharpen our minds.

Last night, I was at a meeting and the topic was surrender. I pointed out that on Thursday, it will be 28 years since I surrendered my powerlessness over alcohol to the god of my understanding. I should say that the god of my understanding then is not the god of my understanding now. My understanding of that word has changed in the past three decades. As I listened to the discussion going around the table, I realized that sometimes I forget that I have surrendered and must renew that agreement.

It used to bother me when other members of my fellowship talked about God, but I understand now that it took some time for me to establish a relationship with God. It started simply. Through prayer and meditation it has improved. If we take some time to comprehend the true meaning of christmas, a celebration of the birth of Christ, then we begin to understand that it is not about getting, it is about giving. Sure, I have a beard and I put on a red suit - the children like it. But, it is the quieter, more secret gifts that matter more. Hope, kindness, love, compassion, understanding. Those are the gifts we should be giving.

December 2, 2025

 My word from my god box was a slogan. First things first. I posted at another blog that it reminds me to begin my day with prayer because the days that I pray almost always turn out better than the days I don't. In two days it will be 28 years since I let God back into my life. I should probably change that to read since I asked God to come back into my life because really I don't direct God to do anything. It's the other way around.

I spent the first few hours of my day chatting to a couple of guys who I am attempting to guide in a positive direction. Seems to be having a good effect on them.

In other news, we are working on getting a life insurance policy because when it comes down to it, we are getting old and as it stands we wouldnt even be able to afford a pine box or an urn...lol. Fortunately, we know someone who does that sort of thing.

December 1, 2025

 The first of December. The start of another month. The last month of this year. A few things happened to me in different Decembers. December 4, 1997 was the day I had my spiritual experience in that little church in Meductic, New Brunswick.

December 31, 1998 was the day I formally proposed to Nancy and December 31, 1999 was the day we were married. So, I will have a little to reflect on as this year draws to a close. I am always aware that with the ending of each year, a new year begins.