Hello @Plodder23 and @eekwhatnow congratulations on making it to Day and Week three. That's brilliant, on both counts. Don't underestimate the strength and bravery it has taken to get you here.
The skin does get better in time. I used to have to take medication for rosacea (not solely caused by drinking, but it certainly didn't help.) but - touch wood (no wood present, so the dog's head will have to suffice) - I haven't had a flare-up in many months. It may take a while - your body is getting rid of the poisons and reasserting itself, but it will come. Clare Pooley talks about the skin improvements in her book 'The Sober Diaries'.
Similarly with the sleep. I have had trouble sleeping for various reasons (terrible nightmares and flashbacks mostly) and was genuinely frightened at the prospect of going to bed/sleep without drinking. In fact, most of my problem drinking was done at night, with the self-justification that it was "self-medicating"/helping me to sleep. Then it got to a point where I was getting in from work and going straight to bed so I could drink. And downhill from there. I'll not lie - it was NOT easy to begin with. I found hot chocolate or chocolate milkshake at bedtime very comforting. But again, it did get easier. It is so very worth it. I have had counselling separately for the reasons behind my troubled sleep, but the ability to enjoy an unhindered, trouble-free sober sleep has been revelatory. And the appreciation of waking up sober, no hint of hangover/booze fog, fresh and alert (and without having to trawl through social media/texts to find out what the catting cat I posted/sent whilst drunk and undertake emergency-deletions/damage-limitation) is and remains even now a precious feeling that should not be underestimated.
@Blackberryblossom top stuff on hunting down an AF Chrimble pud. That's a prize worth having. Not sure about an AF cake; I think M&S might do one. My mum has always made the cake from the good ol' Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook from the 1970s (an early Mary Berry, before Paul Hollywood got at her). It does call for 2 tablespoons of brandy to pour in, but mum has always left that out. I found the recipe online, 'yer 'tiz: Christmas Cake recipe - Berkshire Live (getreading.co.uk) (sorry about the dubious ads).
I have to be careful at Christmas. I'm allergic to nuts and am often proffered cake, pud 'n' treats by genial hosts which could kill me. Pre-Covid when we were always in the office, the bumper chocolate selection boxes would appear come the end of November. The little leaflet showing which chocs were which would inevitably go AWOL (I suspected the marketing bods). It was like playing Russian ~~~~ng Roulette. "Will this one kill me...? Ah, it's a pink wrapper; I'll pop it in..." Nothing like the frisson of death to enhance the chocolatey goodness and celebrate the birth of the Baby-J. 👯God bless us work-from-home rule everyone... ☃🎄😉
Strength and love to all. x