Strong emotions happen! To all of us. . . .

Guys, if you have a baby or toddler, they are gonna cry, more then once a day, for sure. If you have an elementary school age kid they are gonna be disappointed about something they got, or didn't get, or their friend got for the holidays. If you have tweens and teens, they are going to roll their eyes and ditch you for their friends and think some of the gifts you gave them are for losers. What's a grown up to do . . . here's my holiday gift to you.

1. Emotions last for about 90 seconds: WHAT? Yes, an emotion lasts for about 90 seconds and the feeling and drama lasts if we fan the flames (keep talking it through, work on convincing someone to feel differently then they feel, try to squish and squash what we are feeling) it can go on and on for hours (we've all been there, you know what I'm saying) if we nurture it. But the original feeling, 90 SECONDS people.

2. Endure ad Carry On: We focus so much on happy and content and satisfied, we forget that some of the handiest emotions to try on are enduring something or tolerating something. This holiday, can we endure a kids disappointment (not squish it, or talk him out of it, or yell it out of her), and carry on with what needs to happen next (peel the potatoes, get in the car, finish watching Elf)? We can help our kids tolerate or endure that dorky gift, or the gift that ALL their friends got and they didn't.

3. Sometimes the best stories later are the most emotional now, please take a minute and re-read the Blooper Reel, only if you have time. I'm not suggesting you freak out on purpose, but if anyone does, just remember all across America, you can rest assured that someone else is totally losing their mind too. It's the short days, it's the traffic, it's the carb overload.

In summary, our emotions and their emotions last 90 seconds. We don't have to fix it, or like it, or change it, we can endure and tolerate it. Once the storm passes we can get back to holiday cheer and those never ending carbs!