Cheers!

My sister and I started the tradition of drinking wine on Christmases and vodka on New Years in the early 90's. I suppose you can guess why the drinks were specific. Christmas is a sweet, subtle celebration of the Lord's birth so wine is the best choice, while New Year is obviously a more exhilerating time so vodka is the one.

Since my sister and I started earning well and can pretty much afford life's simple pleasures, we would make sure that every Christmas and New Year, there's a special liquor in the house. It's a hallelujah moment whenever I received corporate gifts with wines because it's for one a fine choice, and secondly, saved me some bucks.

We liked Bordeaux and Rioja, Smirnoff, and San Miguel beer. The latter we saved for the boys since beer is an acquired taste for us--not until later when Lynn migrated to Japan to work as a software engineer. (What I know is they drink beer or sake first before a regular meal over there). In my case, it took me a lot of facial distortions until I learned to like that yeast-fermented malt! We save Bailey's Cream for last since it's the most expensive and the best according to our simple taste.

I'm married for quite a while now. So is my sister. Only my brothers carry on the tradition back home. However, since our marriage, they modified the celebratory dates to their own respective birthdays so that came down to the normal "toma" with their barkadas. They are moderate drinkers. They know that there is a huge--I mean, huge!--level of nagging issue involved from our mother afterwards. And boy, they can't and won't push their lucks!

Jesus' first miracle occurred at a wedding party in Cana 2000 years ago. He turned large water vessels into wine after knowing that the first batch had been consumed. He's not a kill-joy, wasn't he? He understood that occassional drinking is more of a celebration of life together as a family as opposed to drinking for the heck of getting a buzz.

I have my own tradition at home with my husband. We prepare wine and vodka for ourselves in the safety of our homes on special occassions--particularly on birthdays. We drink with our good friends to celebrate promotions, birthdays, or just simply enjoying the company of each other. 

It is one thing to drink in moderation and it's another when you woke up in a different house with a different person. Tradition or not, one is responsible for his or her own actions. You just got to know your limits.