It’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon as I exit the dimly lit bar and wander out into the hot San Diego sun. Laughter and cheers surround me as our parade of debauchery continues on toward the next bar on the list, toward our ultimate conquest, 12 bars in 12 hours.
The object is simple. Spend an hour at each of 12 bars. You must consume at least one beer at each bar or you can substitute the beer for a shot that is either red, green or cookie flavored. And last of all, you must be wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater you can find. It’s called the 12 pubs of Christmas, and to me it represents the epitome of what the holiday season has become all about.
What company isn’t going to hold a Christmas party for their employees and not have alcohol present? How many families do you know that don’t get together around the holidays and share a cocktail or two while catching up with everyone? The fact is that the “jolly juice” usually finds its way into our lives during the holiday season. Luckily, you all have yours truly to dive into this bowlful of jelly and find out why we toast under the tinsel.
“I need two chocolate cake shots and two beers,” I overhear my friend Melissa say to the bartender. She hands me two of the glasses, both of which may have me praying to the porcelain gods by the end of the night. We are at bar number seven and my head has become fuzzy. We cheer our glasses with two more friends standing nearby. With 50 plus people participating in the event, we nearly fill the entire place. If someone could take a picture from high above, it would look like a 1970s carpet piece was covering the floor of the bar.
“What an amazing day it’s been,” says Melissa. “I think I was more excited waking up this morning than I am on Christmas Day.”
The holiday season is one of the most stressful times of the year. After cooking for hours on Thanksgiving, we jump straight into Black Friday and never really look back. Every kid in America wants the most expensive, technologically advanced toy on the market. There’s the loved one that you just have to find that perfect gift for. No one in the family can decide on when the best time is to get together. That holiday bonus hasn’t shown up in the mail quite as quickly as you had hoped. And what college student is getting a holiday bonus? We’re lucky if we can afford a trip home to see our loved ones, let alone showing up with armloads of gifts.
It’s no surprise that as Santa’s day approaches, we tend to reach for the bottle. In my opinion, it’s somewhat deserved. After all the hustling and holiday headaches, is it so bad to kick up your feet with aunts, uncles, cousins, coworkers, sip a glass of champagne or spiked eggnog and have a few laughs? Isn’t Christmas more about being with the people you love rather than the gifts you give? Doesn’t Christmas give us the perfect opportunity to step away from the fast paced civilization that we have become?
I’m not trying to advocate dangerous situations like drinking and driving. If you were a Christmas tree, you should be decorated in responsibility. But for some, an alcoholic drink around the holidays may help make the last remaining days of the year a bit more relaxing and enjoyable, which is well deserved.
“That was your last drink of the night,” the bartender says to me as I stand against the bar with a fresh puddle of liquor flowing down the front of my red sweater. I stumble and laugh. All of us are laughing. Between four of my friends, we each have a house within walking distance from the last of the 12 bars, a place for everyone to sleep and be safe. As if binge drinking was safe. Some of this group may be stressed about upcoming finals, and some may have already finished theirs. Some of us may not have our shopping done and some may not have the money to buy the most expensive Christmas presents this year. But what we’ve accomplished through 12 bars is much more important. We’ve had fellowship and fun, and that’s what every holiday season should be filled with.