Well, Christmas is nearly here again and it’s that time when families get together in (for the most part) peace and harmony. Of course it’s never quite that simple. It always starts out pretty well. The rellies drive or fly in, or come over from next suburb. And at first it’s perfect. After all, we love these guys and we might not have seen them for ages. They grew up with us and have been by our side from day dot. We’ve laughed together, cried together and shared life’s most of the important moments together.

But after a few days, little cracks start to emerge. Different members of the family have different expectations about who’s at whose house on which day; what we’re going to eat; or do; or watch on TV. We’re often living at close quarters – in each other’s’ pockets you might say, and we start to notice each other’s habits a bit more. (Did Uncle Fred really just double dip in the French Onion?!)

Anyway, for the most part we manage our way through it with our family intact. And one of the reasons we survive is that we go out of our way to see the goodness in each other. We bring a lot of good will to the table – genuine concern for the well-being of the others in our family and a willingness to find a way through our differences.