Thomas Wolfe coined the phrase, You can’t go home again, for his 1940 book of that title, but you can certainly get back in the neighborhood. Families can be like trees—shivering in the metaphorical winter winds and standing tall and strong in other storms. Sometimes boughs bend and sometimes they break. The December holidays may shake a family tree until its weaker limbs drop off and get discarded, or they may further strengthen an already stable sequoia. Families, like plants, cannot always be saved, but they can be protected and shored up to optimize their chances of survival.

Here are five considerations for maximizing the survival of one’s family and stopping any possible deracination during the upcoming holidays:

1. Dealing with siblings. It is hard to for adult siblings to always be on the same page about everything. There are nieces and nephews running around, parents to be........

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