Opinion: This holiday season, avoid political fights and focus on connections with family and friends

Enjoy the food instead of fighting.
(Quora photo)

Leaving political opinions and arguments out of holiday get-togethers is a recipe for more enjoyable meals that focus on connections, writes Mary Katherine Ham in her opinion for The Spectator. "There will be plenty of people in media who tell you it is your moral responsibility to ruin food and fellowship with political confrontations. . . . It doesn’t have to be this way. There was a time, not too long ago, when we didn’t have to turn every breaking of bread into a struggle session. Luckily, there’s a roadmap to show the way back to that time."

Allowing for a spirit of goodwill and family fun leaves little room for banter over MAGA or Washington Post articles. "You don’t beat politics addicts by trying to meet them on their extortionary ground — you win by standing up for yourself and your right to ignore politics for an evening," Ham adds. "Act like an adult . . . .Your gatherings don’t need a conscience, they need grown-ups mature enough to value connection rather than mere information."

Embracing family traditions and connections can
lead to a happier holiday meal. (Quora photo)

Focusing on the joy of a delightful turkey dinner or other traditional meals paired with family stories can be enough. Ham advises against using the dinner table as a time for a political agenda. She writes, "Thanksgiving gives us a chance to connect with community, with actual people who are imperfect, unvetted and uncategorized." Leave character assassinations and holiday "shout-outs" for another time.

Perhaps The Spectator's Nate and Thomas Hochman voiced Ham's hope for family gatherings best: "Family, after all, is a reprieve from — not a substrate for — the madness of the broken world outside."