conflict

Meal Ordeal: How to Survive the Holiday Dinner

“Baby, please come home,” pleads Darlene Love in her Christmas classic. We can imagine Bing Crosby’s rejoinder: “I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count me.”  Every year, millions of travellers brave sleet and snow, bustling airports and wintry roads to return home to celebrate the holidays.  Hours of labour in the kitchen culminates in a feast […]

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The Darkest Season of the Year: Notes on Difficult Family Gatherings

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so goes the carol.  But is it really?  December days are dreary and dark.  Rain presses down, and the chill of winter seeps into our bones.  It’s hard to rise from bed.  The holidays brim with stress: children’s activities and social occasions every week.  The shopping spree unleashes madness in the malls, leaving consumers

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