The Vote and Thanksgiving
 

I am having Thanksgiving at my house and am concerned about the dinner conversation as my family is as deeply divided and equally as passionate about their politics as the rest of the nation. Any suggestions on how to keep things from getting ugly? Is anyone else concerned about their holiday?

<BR> <BR>You've got to be kidding.

I understand. I have forbidden my father & brother discussing politics at my house. I did this when I realized their discussion had run EVERYONE else out of the house.

This question has nothing to do with travel or am I missing something? Okay, I will turn this into a travel question! <BR> <BR>Maybe you could send 1/2 your family to <BR>Palm beach County for xmas & the other 1/2 to Dade? Jetblue has good prices. <BR> <BR>you could also tell your guests to wear Ralph Nader or Patrick Buchanan masks, that would be fun! <BR> <BR> <BR>

Dear Sarah, can I come to your house? There will be 18 at our Thanksgiving - 17 Republican-Conservatives and me, and they will indeed gang up on me (sniff sniff). Thanksgiving is my very favorite Holiday, but I really dread this one.

Sarah-Buy a roll of duct tape and tell your guests no talking politics period or else their mouths will be duct taped for the rest of the day! It is your HOUSE, you make the rules and stick to your guns! If your relatives don't like it they can go eat dinner at Denneys. <BR> <BR>PS. Be careful with plying them with two much wine, it might make for very loose lips!

Two suggestions; <BR>Think of subjects YOU can steer the conversation to, when you need to. So when it does go bad, you don't do the "How's the weather?" type of small talk. Use open-ended questions. People usually like to talk about themselves, so "Tell me about your trip to xxxx," or "I always love the way you xxx, how do you do it - / wasn't that like mom/dad/???," or "I read that xxx company [someone works at] is involved in yyy. I don't understand it." - Internet is always a long-topic of conversation. <BR> <BR>To those that do talk about politics, have a couple of props available to "warn" or penalize anyone who goes into the political hinterland. Bring a zipper, and tell someone to zip up their lip - then any future violations will be made fun. A soft way to tell someone to shut up. Or, put pictures of Bush or Gore on a popcicle stick (or like) and flash it ala New Orleans (there is the link to travel!). <BR> <BR>At last resort, I'd have a huge food fight with stuffing or potatoes if it really gets bad. <BR> <BR>By the way, do you use raisins in your stuffing? [A huge family fight on this every year] <BR> <BR>

Look, why not go with the flow, but instead of allowing dinner converstion to become combative, make a game of the entire thing. Set some groundrules beforehand - such as, we'll have dinner first, with no talk about the election, and for those who wish, then divide up into teams for a Q&A session on all aspects of the election process. Create a 100 real questions, such as what happen if no one gets the 270 on January 6? Make it an informative contest. Keep score. Or you could allow each guest to contribute a few questions for the game. Set a time period, and have each guest bring a $25 gift to the dinner, and the winners exchange and the losers each give the winners a gift. This is an improtant happening, so why not make your dinner memorable and historicaly timely as well. Whatever you do, make it fun and informative, and people will keep their cool and remember you as a great host. Ciao

People who don't know the difference between an electoral vote and an electrical volt are all weighing in with opinions, based on what they've watched on t.v. or heard on the radio. Worse, they are getting loud and argumentative while trying to sound credible. Example: I had an appointment today, and the technician with whom I met greeted me with, "If you tell me you voted for Bush, I'll kill myself, and you too!" Realizing that this was a lose-lose situation, I replied that I'd prefer not to discuss whom I voted for, but would be willing to discuss the issues calmly. The reply was, "O.K., I'm calm. We need to get rid of the electorials. I don't know what they are, but they're hurting Gore!" <BR> <BR>I took a deep breath, knowing this would be a long afternoon. My suggestion would be (assuming your relatives are in the triple digit I.Q. range) to keep the conversation on the issues, the law, the electoral vote vs. the popular vote, the tactics (effective or not) used by each side, etc. This could make for great conversation without rancor. <BR> <BR>Good luck, and good travels. <BR> <BR>

Why not send emails to all of the guests urging them to refrain from discussing the P word; you could tell them instead that they have been divided into teams to debate throughout the whole evening the pros & cons of killing & eating turkeys! <BR>Now thats a serious issue! If anyone violates the rules tar & turkey feather them!

I thought the whole point behind the NFL was so that families wouldn't have to talk to each other on Thanksgiving.

Make sure everyone checks their guns at the door.

Just two recent examples: I live in Florida. Yesterday, I went to luch with three co-workers. I knew from earlier conversations that two voted for Bush, one for Gore, and the fourth person had never mentioned her vote. The converstion turned to the recount in Florida. I politely asked if we could talk about something else, as I had heard enough. We weren't talking against either Bush or Gore, but I was just sick of the whole thing. We did change the subject and had a lovely lunch. <BR> My brother in another state went, as part of his church group, to the home of a family whose Mother had just died. The family's last name was Gore. Some disparaging remarks were made about Al Gore. One of the relatives spoke up and said, "Don't you realize that Al Gore is my fifth cousin?" The political talk ended.

A lo-oo-ong time ago while I was in my teens, my family was having a holiday dinner party with our friends invited. One of my parents is a Democrat, one a Republican. We have always had twisted conversations; this time, an audience was there to spectate. <BR> <BR>When the topic of the past elections came up, a cohort chimed in, "I thought you wern't supposed to discuss religion or politics at the dinner table." <BR> <BR>(Miss Manners would have given this young adult an award, probably his first "White-washed, white bread boring conversation Merit Badge.") <BR> <BR>My dad, ever the gentleman, answered. "Well," he said, "I guess that just leaves the weather to talk about." <BR> <BR>Puts things in a politically-correct atmosphere, don'tcha'think? <BR> <BR>Thanksgiving and holiday dinners: You just can't get out of doing the family "dysfunctional dance." <BR> <BR>Enjoy and respect others' opinions; otherwise no one will respect yours. And, get in a few jabs, too.