Whenever the major holiday seasons approach your mind, once it has thought about gifts, food, and drink, will turn to family.

Now this may be an elated feeling of happiness, or it may be a feeling of dread at the thought of spending time with your family. It depends on what your relationship with them is like.

It may come as no surprise to you to learn that the holiday seasons, and particularly Christmas, are the main times of the year for relationship breakdowns.
Due to the pressures of gifts, people drinking excessively, and mis-communicated expectations, holiday seasons can be extremely stressful.

So what can you do in order to reduce the stress of your family?

The first thing you can do is to decide who you want to spend time with and who you don't. Quite often you are emotionally blackmailed into spending time with people you really don't want to be with. This makes you feel bad and causes stress; making you more irritable than usual.

It can be very hard to avoid certain family members during the holiday seasons, which also makes it hard to avoid the stress that comes from socializing with them. Sometimes you need to be strong and make some potentially difficult decisions to do what is best for yourself.

If you can avoid spending time with the people that stress you, keep it to a minimum or make sure you are not with them alone, then it should reduce your stress levels to a more manageable level.

It may also help if you identify what it is about that person that you do not like. Is it something specific?

If you know what it is about the person then you can avoid or adjust to that particular issue. For example, if they have a habit of drinking too much, then you may just remove any alcohol from gatherings where that person is at. You might also have a word with a family member who is closer to that person and get them to stop them from drinking.

Personally, I don't like to hold resentment or anger towards people. At the end of the day, it doesn't help you at all, and only makes you feel more stressed and more upset. It might be that you need to forgive the family member, move on from something, or let go of something. You really need to think if it is worth holding on to all that stress is worth it for you.

They do say that you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Your family can be your greatest gift, and I know I have been blessed by mine. Family feuds are just not worth keeping.

Work on reducing the stress from your family by getting over and resolving your issues with them and you will find the holiday seasons become much more enjoyable.