Relationships that go badly are no fun for anyone involved, but add in the holiday season and you have a bit of a mess on your hands. While you want to break up with a person, is that really the best thing to do during the holiday season?

There are two schools of though on this: one, you could break up with them because when they realize that you were just holding out until after the holidays were over, it’s going to be doubly painful. Or two, you could break up with them when the time is right (okay, but not in the middle of a family dinner) and simply be known as the significant other who stole Christmas/Hanukah/Etc.

In the end, most professional therapist agree that sparing someone’s feelings for a holiday is not the right way to be in a relationship – breaking up is the right decision whenever it is the right decision, regardless of the holiday or the date.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it nicely.

Some things to avoid:

• Breaking up during a planned gathering at a family member’s home
• Telling anyone that you’ve going to break up with the person before you actually tell the person
• Breaking up with them in a public place, over email, or over the phone

You might not get out of this breakup with a good reputation, but at least you’re being honest – and that’s going to count for something. Eventually.

Breaking Up, Family Breaking Up, Family, Holidays, Relationships

Getting a date is one thing, but starting to date during the holidays can be a tricky thing to handle. Do you go over to her/his house? Do you bring a gift for your date? What are your obligations?

The holidays are an emotional time for anyone, but this also doesn’t mean that you should avoid them altogether in order to save yourself from dealing with them entirely. What you’ll want to do is take a breath, think about what the holidays are really about and then you’ll make the right decision.

First of all, the holidays are about giving and sharing. This is a time of celebration, so take advantage of the parties that you’re invited to. These will give you a great opportunity to have low stress dates where you can mingle and talk just a little, no pressure on either of you to maintain a longer conversation.

If you’ve been going out for a few weeks, you may want to pick up a small gift for your date. Something like movie tickets can provide both of you with a reason to get together again or something that you can keep in case your date decides to call things off before the gift exchange day.

What you may want to realize is that the holidays can be a difficult time for everyone, but by going with the flow and just having fun as you would with anyone else, you and your date might just make it into the New Year.

Tips and Ideas Date Ideas, Gifts, Holidays, Vacation