Dear LPG,

I am writing this before Christmas but hoping that LPG will print my message after the holiday.  While writing I am thinking about how much better than last year this holiday will be perceived after the event. I would think our memories of our two most recent Christmas experiences will be very different to most of the ones that have preceded.  Christmas dinner, though still sparse, will have been a more eventful celebration than the one we had last year, but we will all be getting used to the telephone and internet coming into play in a much bigger way than it ever has before. 

On the positive side there will have been less time spent alone with family members that you are less likely to get on with so hopefully, there will also have been less of those quarrels and squabbles that usually happen when too many family members spend too much time in each other’s company.  

However, no matter how many less arguments the Christmas holiday will have inspired this year there are bound to be a few.  One other thing that we can be sure of is that many of those silly differences of opinion will only have got more serious because of pride; because no one wants to back down and everyone thinks that they are right. 

I just want to remind readers that now, about three weeks after the event, it might be the time to get in touch, agree to disagree on whatever point started the whole incident in the first place, and then get on with your lives.  It will be easier this year because of the restrictions that will continue to limit just how close you will have to get to achieve a renewing of the peace.

Perhaps it is because our years have taught us a bit more about being diplomatic when we are caught in the middle of such discussions, we oldies often find ourselves watching and learning about both sides of such opposing rifts because we are often the family member that the youngsters feel the need to justify their actions to, and with our knowledge of both sets of facts, we may be the people best placed to help to nip such disagreements in the bud.

So when it all kicks off and you end up with family members trying to convince you that they were in the right, please take the time to remind them that, regardless of what you think, the most important thing is that they agree to disagree and get on with their lives.

TG, Crofton Park