We can choose how we treat our families

Welcome to the busiest travel day of the year. As we rush around preparing to travel, buying groceries, preparing for the big Thanksgiving day, let's stop for a moment and remember what is important.

A wise man once said you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family. At no time of the year does that become more evident than during the holidays, when all of us are in close proximity to family members, some of whom haven't been around for a while.

At no other time of the year is there so much stress to behave and so much pressure to perform as during the holidays.

That stress sometimes translates into confrontations, which can often result in estrangement.

Patience, they say, is a virtue and at no other time of the year is it tested more often.

But that the vast majority of us pass that test is in itself a reason to be thankful.

Our family members share a bond with us few friends can claim.

So as we're shopping and scrapping, let's remember that while we can't pick our family members, we can choose how we treat them.