During the year I have read so many heart-warming stories as members have found a way to cope and move forward. I have read in ‘My Journal’ stories of courage, inspiration and successes. I have facilitated in groups and met so many of you that are making sense of the senseless when there seemed to be no hope. I have felt so much admiration at the strength of so many.
When I first went, trembling from head to foot, in to Gamanon I was amazed that the others members were not two-headed monsters or at the very least gangster’s molls. It is with great pleasure that I found that all those who love CGs are very, very human. We are a witty, intelligent and although I can’t see you, I imagine a very attractive, bunch of people. We have in common that we love someone who has the most terrible addiction that is not getting the publicity it deserves.
I had the pleasure to attend some GA meetings where again I found humans, not monsters, people struggling and carrying the heavy burden of an addiction that they didn’t want or ask for. It was a pleasure because they made sense of a lot of what I had been living with and they inspired me with hope which in time became a reality.
We hear of alcoholism and drug abuse but there is so little warning of the terrors that await an innocent who gambles for fun without realising that this activity can have such a devastating effect on their minds, their lives and the lives of those who love them.
This Christmas, as I have done for the past few years, I will be saying the Serenity Prayer out loud at 11.00 hours UK time and would love for you to join me. To close your eyes and hold hands in cyber space. It can be said with or without the word God depending on your feelings.
Those of you who are struggling with the addiction to gamble this Christmas please take a couple of minutes, hold the hands of others in cyber space and know that you are not alone. Smile as you say the words and make those around you wonder at your strength.  Stuff what the rest of the world thinks, along with the turkey, if you are on this site you are seeking a gamble-free life and everybody here understands what courage that takes.
To those of us who’s CG has found the strength to control their addiction, remember the courage your loved one has shown, and is showing this Christmas, because Christmas will have sad memories for them. Christmas as an active CG is not a happy time.
To those of you who have the addiction and are trying to control it or have controlled it, I hope you will know that in cyber space you are cared about by the Friends and Families section of this site – it would be good to feel you with us.
Make this Christmas one to remember, when the addiction to gamble did not destroy your happiness because you know that inside you there is the strength to defy it and change your life.
I hope your Christmas is one of peace and joy. I know for many it will not be easy but we will share in the ups and downs on the forum and in the groups afterwards and hopefully gain strength from knowing we were not – and are not, alone.
The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Velvet