Growing up, Christmas Eve was a time for my family to get together at my grandma's house. We'd sing Christmas carols (reluctantly), open presents, and eat cookies and sandwiches. That is until my aunt found a new boyfriend, "Uncle" Howard, or Howie as my aunt called him. He was about as left wing as my dad is right wing. Everything was fine during the Clinton years. Howie was happy and Christmas Eve wasn't so bad. Then came the George W. Bush years. The last Christmas Eve I can remember attending was about five or six years ago, and the night turned into my dad and Howie going at it politically for hours. At one point, I even began to think that a few punches might get thrown. I just sat in the living room and watched TV, thinking that talking politics on Christmas is like drinking bad eggnog, it spoils the day.

Politics seem to sort of rule my family, also. The majority of my family on my mother's side is Democrat. However, they believe in the Democratic ideals that they grew up with .... which are quite different from how the Democratic party presently is. My uncle, however, (my mother's brother) is a Republican. This definitely causes some strife around election time when there is a family get-together. It sometimes is annoying, because we're family and I don't think it should matter what political party you are, because you're family. Like Lancer said, part of his family supported the Clintons, while the others like George W. - same goes for mine. I feel like the bias sometimes hinders everyone's political views, and at times, puts a cloud over family occassions.

Our family learned long ago not to discuss this topic. The views in the family range from very liberal democrat to libertarian to very conservative. The few times politics have been discussed have turned into shouting matches, and that just isn't good for anyone.

We now try to stick to things like sports and movies.