Rupert Wolfe Murray: Enjoying the festive spirit without alcohol

Why not give yourself a real treat for Christmas? Give up alcohol for the holiday.

Alcohol is a poison – two bottles of spirits would be a fatal dose for most people – it makes you fat, smells bad to non- drinkers (such as children) and costs a fortune.

But could you do it? Could you make it all the way to New Year’s Day without a taste of beer, wine, champagne, whisky, brandy or egg nog? Would Christmas be the same without it? What would your friends and family think?

So why not do something different, buck the trend, ignore the advertising and go against tradition?

For most, I suspect this would conjure up images of Scrooge having no fun at Christmas – how can you have fun without booze while acknowledging that this would be good for the wallet, the kids, the stomach and the liver.

We are so used to alcohol fuelling the whole Christmas bonanza that it’s hard to imagine going without.

But look at the children – they seem to have a good time without the need to be holding a glass.

And think of all the food that will soon be making its way into your stomach; why not give yourself a break and spare it having to process all those extra calories you will be pouring down your throat (the body treats alcohol like a sugar).

“When did drinking become obligatory?” writes Zoe Strimpel in Psychology Today. “Every social occasion seems to revolve around alcohol, and not just at Christmas.”

Most of us become dependent on alcohol without becoming alcoholics. For years and years I would have a bottle of red wine with dinner, two if someone else came round, and I could never leave a bottle empty.

Alcohol has become the social lubricant of our times. I used to drink wine because I like the taste and it became a habit. Others are influenced by the ads and drink to fit in socially.

Georgia Foster, director of the Drink Less Mind programme, explains that “for many people alcohol is a way of connecting with family and friends.”

Alcohol has a calming influence on the brain and some people can’t sleep or relax without it. Some City traders in London are fired up in the day by the adrenaline and excitement of their work , and by night they need alcohol to unwind, relax and sleep.

People can function like this for years.

I found giving up alcohol was a lot easier than I expected. I drank my last bottle of wine on 31 December 2006 and since then all I have had was a glass of Campari and orange (which I thought was orange juice but then enjoyed the taste so much that I had to finish it) and a quarter glass of Mateus Rosé when everyone else round the table was toasting an American friend of mine who had just announced her transition from man to woman.

I gave up because my wine drinking was becoming so habitual that I wondered if I could get through dinner without a bottle.

I was also feeling bloated a lot of the time and experimented by giving up pasta and bread (no effect) and then alcohol – which did the trick.

I was also thinking about all the money I was giving to a government I didn’t like and hadn’t elected.

I never intended to stay abstinent for so long but I feel no urge to go back to the bottle.

The alternatives cost less, taste better and tend to be better for you. Nothing beats freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed up (before adding water) with honey. Chilled mineral water can hit the spot like nothing else when you’re thirsty.

I used to drink Coca-Cola as a hangover cure but now I take it when I need an energy boost (and am in a mood to ignore the fact that 30 per cent of it consists of sugar).

The only problem with not drinking is that when those you are with start getting drunk their wit and wisdom starts to sound, to me anyway, like nonsense.

At that point we tend to part ways and I head off for a good book and an early night.

Now I only accept invitations to the parties and events that I consider really special.

I am looking forward to my fifth alcohol-free Christmas. I am immune to the scorn of my fellow revellers.

I will use blackberry syrup to join in the toast and I intend to join the kids in the silly games department rather than stand around pouring poison into my innards.

• Rupert Wolfe Murray is the PR adviser to Castle Craig rehab clinic