A Guide to How the Royal Family Spends Christmas at Sandringham

One of the royals’ most beloved holiday traditions is the Christmas-morning walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church, a 16th-century parish located on the Sandringham Estate. For decades, members of oxford house sober living the royal family have greeted locals, well-wishers, and the press during this walk before settling into the pews for the church’s Christmas-morning service. Oxford House, Inc., a non-profit corporation, belongs to the residents of Oxford Houses nationwide. Residents democratically make their voices heard through the individual houses, the Chapters, the World Council and the Oxford House, Inc. The legacy of Oxford House is forever secure as long as the concept, Traditions and system of operations is assured by control of its members through participation in an effective democratic system of organization. Mr. Molloy and the other residents devised the basic rules of self-government that have shaped Oxford House ever since.

• A member’s tenure is absolutely secure in an Oxford House as long as he does not drink or use drugs and keeps his rent up to date and is not disruptive.
• For those of us who had been in institutions or half-way houses, resentments against authority were common.
• Followed up on each house application and tracked down the individuals who had moved out.
• The national scope of Oxford House and its long history makes it the only recovery house system that has been the subject of so much independent research.

A tribute to our late co-founder and CEO, Paul Molloy

Likewise, it is inconsistent with the Oxford House concept to have a requirement placed on members to utilize the services of psychiatrists, doctors, or even the program of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous except in very special circumstances. „An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest Problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.“ A long-running study by Chicago’s DePaul University shows that people completing one year of residency maintain a sobriety rate as high as 80 percent. Oxford House set out for national expansion by hiring the first outreach workers to start opening houses in other states. In 1987, the late Bill Spillane, Ph. D., who had retired from NIDA and was teaching at Catholic University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C. Followed up on each house application and tracked down the individuals who had moved out.

• It is not easy to spread the word of a new concept or an old concept with a new twist.
• While Oxford House, Inc. has the sole authority to grant Oxford House charters, the World Council acts as an advisory council to the board.
• For more than twenty-five years, a DePaul University-based research team has been involved in studying Oxford Houses in order to better understand the role they play in substance abuse recovery.
• The reason that each Oxford House is independent arises from the very practical consideration that those who are closest to a situation are best able to manage it.
• Therefore, it is important that each Oxford House meet these minimum responsibilities in order for its charter to be continued.
• Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA.
• By running Oxford House on a democratic basis, members of Oxford House become able to accept the authority of the group because the group is a peer group.

There are over 3,500 Oxford Houses across the United States

At the Oxford House World Convention held annually, Oxford Houses throughout the country vote for representatives to the World Council. There is no reason to believe that society as a whole had the responsibility to provide long-term housing within a protected environment for the alcoholic and drug addict. However, there is every reason to believe that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts can do for themselves that which society as a whole has no responsibility to do for them. Oxford House is built on the premise of expanding in order to meet the needs of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

Dress Codes, Roast Turkey, and Gag Gifts: A Guide to the Royal Family’s Christmas at Sandringham

It is not easy to spread the word of a new concept or an old concept with a new twist. Propagation, or spreading the word, of the Oxford House concept is given the highest priority by the members of Oxford House. All Oxford Houses have been careful to avoid undo dependence on government or other outside funds. In deference to that tradition, Oxford House has never sought nor obtained sponsorship from any AA or NA group.

• For example, the landlord and phone company may require a security deposit and, while furnishings are generally donated, members will often have to rent a truck in order to pick them up.
• The opportunity for a house to democratically function requires periodic meetings within the house — at least once a week.
• All aspects of Oxford House operations, from the acquisition of the house to the acceptance or dismissal of members, is carried out under democratic procedures.
• For a couple of months in 1975, he found himself living on the streets and begging strangers for money before he entered a rehabilitation program.
• Oxford House should rely on democratically chosen leaders, but the leaders must always be but trusted servants.

Oxford House members value the Sixth Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous (and Narcotics Anonymous) too greatly for themselves to try to get either movement deeply involved in the organizing, financing, or sponsorship of any Oxford House. However, Oxford House members firmly believe that the Oxford House concept can expand as an independent entity, while fully utilizing the benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous. „An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest Problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.“ Every Oxford House member attributes his sobriety to Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous.

Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan will probably skip the Sandringham celebration, having missed out on the annual Christmas party since they stepped down from their roles as senior royals in 2020. Instead, they will likely spend the holidays with kids Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3, and Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, in their Montecito, California, home.

The Oxford House Model provides community based, supportive, and sober living environment.

Oxford House was founded not only to put a roof over our head, but also to create a home where the disease of alcoholism was understood and the need for the alcoholic to stay away from the first drink was emphasized. The bond that holds the group together is the desire to stop drinking and stay stopped. Modest rooms and living facilities can become luxurious suites when viewed from an environment of alcoholics working together for comfortable sobriety.

Within the estate is Sandringham House, a Jacobean-style private royal residence that dates back to 1870. The annual festivities mark one of the few occasions per year that the royals can all congregate to spend time together as a family. By 1988, the number of individual Oxford Houses had become so great that it became difficult https://ecosoberhouse.com/ to have a meeting at which everyone would get a chance to speak.

Oxford House Manual: Chapter Manual: Sharing the Experience, Strength, and Hope of Oxford Houses for the Common Good

Living within an Oxford House provides both the opportunity and motivation for all residents to regularly attend AA and/or NA meetings. The example of Oxford House members going to AA or NA meetings on their own is contagious. It has been the experience of Oxford House that participation in AA and NA is extremely high in an environment where one individual can see another individual, with the same disease, reaping great benefits from AA and/or NA participation.

The only members who will Sober living home ever be asked to leave an Oxford House are those who return to drinking, using drugs, or have disruptive behavior, including the nonpayment of rent. No Oxford House can tolerate the use of alcohol or drugs by one of its members because that threatens the sobriety of all of the members. Neither can an Oxford House function if some do not pay their fair share of the costs. The charter of each Oxford House requires that an Oxford House meet certain minimum requirements of Oxford House, Inc. First of all, no Oxford House may permit individuals to remain as members if those individuals are drinking or using drugs.