“Peaceful” isn’t always the first word that comes to mind when you think about attending a big holiday celebration. 

No matter how much you love each other, the people you gather with on holidays can get on your nerves.  People are bound to clash when you spend four or five hours together, eating, drinking, and sharing opinions.  Even if you are determined to enjoy each other, you can still end up with a challenging combination of personalities, generations, and ideas about what a perfect holiday should look like. 

Since I can’t be at everybody’s holiday dinner to keep things peaceful, here are four easy things you can do to get ahead of holiday conflict and make your gathering more fun for everyone: