if at all possible, try to foresee where your creepy uncle or crazy cousin or mother-in-law will sit at christmas dinner and put yourself at a different part of the table.aassigned seats, bribe the hostess. number two, don't talk politics. the christmas dinner table is not the megapanel on the d.r. show. everyone knows talking politics can only lead to disaster and still people do it at thanksgiving. my sister, a doctor, said to me, there's eight jobs currently open at my hospital, that's how i know the occupy movement is b.s. i bit my tongue so hard it still has bite marks. number three. see through people. i don't mean see them naked like you're marcia brady trying to get over nervousness, i mean see through what people are saying into what they actually mean. when you're among family, everything is coded. when someone says you just know everything, it means you're