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Here’s to Happy Holidays and Fruitful Interactions

Foster Gamble

Nov 25, 2025 • 4 min read

Photo by Jessica Lewis 🦋 thepaintedsquare / Unsplash

Here we go into the holidays…Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah… Many of us will be gathering with the family we were born into, not necessarily those we have chosen to spend our time with.

It can be warm and wonderful and fun…or it can be a bear trap ready to spring at the slightest slip of the tongue or ideological divergence.

I have been learning more and more to go in with my eyes and my heart open and armed with a few techniques to calm the adrenaline and keep a conversation on track.

Timing is usually critical, and celebratory get-togethers are almost never the right time for debates on what is really going on or what team should be holding the ring of power.

If you are smiling and having a good time, folks will be much more interested in what’s going on in your thinking than if you are loud, scared or angry.

I have collected here some of the most useful notions to remember — as well as several of my blogs and videos that attempt to summarize how to have a good time and be effective in representing yourself if it comes to that.

Happy Holidays! 😉

Potentially Helpful Phrases

Before you “go there…”

“Are you in a frame of mind to discuss potentially sensitive issues?” (Thanks to Mark Gibson)
“Often I find political differences come down to sources of information. May I ask where you primarily get your news?”
“On a scale of 0–10, how interested are you in hearing a worldview quite different from your own?” (Probably don’t bother below 7!)
“I have listened to the best of my ability, and it’s helpful for me to hear your perspectives. Now will you be willing to listen to me for 5 minutes without interrupting?”
“How about we talk about our values, our dreams, what we each want for humanity, and our feelings, our purpose instead of which mob should rule the rest of us?”
“Instead of political parties and personalities, let’s try talking about truth and freedom.”

Once you have “gone there…”

“My research indicates that political division is a primary tool of the elites — pitting us against each other while they centralize power over us all. Can you imagine a world without authoritarian rule — without politics, without government?”
“Who do you think should rule?” (Thanks to Mary Ruwart)
1. One person
2. A small group
3. The majority
4. No one. We should all rule ourselves and all be held personally accountable for not violating the person or property of anyone else.

Potentially Helpful Phrases

Before you “go there…”

Once you have “gone there…”

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