Heated for the Holidays
Michelle Coles (left) and her husband Daniel Coles (right) having drinks in Bryant Park. The Long Island couple knows that politics will be a heated topic at their Thanksgiving table. Photo by Diane Bezucha.
Dec. 4, 2019
Whether you eat pumpkin or sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, one thing nearly everyone can agree on is that holidays get heated.
While this time of year brings families together around the dinner table, that table is often more of a battleground as sibling rivalries, annoying habits and ideological differences rear their heads in blowouts of epic proportions.
In interviews in midtown on Tuesday, New Yorkers shared what they anticipate will be the most controversial topics at their dinner tables this holiday season.
“Politics. Definitely politics,” said Daniel Coles, 56, of Long Island, who was enjoying a drink in Bryant Park with his wife, Michelle.
“Probably Trump, or my lack of a job,” said Kellie Tice, 35, who is traveling to Florida for the weekend to spend the holiday with her girlfriend’s grandparents.
Jaclyn Lovell, 38 and a teacher at The New School, always braces for a bumpy ride when she goes home to Wisconsin for the holidays.
“Last Christmas my dad used the n-word,” said Lovell, cringing as she described the first time she brought her boyfriend, who is black, home for the holidays.
Lovell said her family worked through the race issues, but the drama always finds a new target.
“My guess is my mom is going to say some very controversial things about my grandma slowing down that’s going to upset everyone,” said Lovell.
For some families, the debate is more benign.
Edd Newell, a UPS deliveryman from Brooklyn said the biggest argument in his family will be, “Where’s the cornbread? Who’s hogging the food?”
For Dina Lerman, 55, and Gerd Stoeckel, 56, holiday drama is a non-issue. The couple sells their children’s clothing line at a pop-up shop in Bryant Park and will be working straight through the holidays.
“We literally are not going to be having family time until January,” said Lerman.
And maybe that’s the answer. In an interview with the Daily Mail, University of West Virginia Communications Professor Melanie Booth-Butterfield attributes this holiday tension to a condition known as “hyper-copresence.” Simply put, suddenly spending 24 hours a day with people you rarely see, often in cramped quarters, sends people over the edge. Especially if they already disagree on politics.
Maybe having to work over Thanksgiving isn’t so bad. Then again, it just won’t be the holidays without one good row.