John Curley’s tips for deescalating (and escalating) your Thanksgiving awkwardness

Every news outlet does some story this time of year talking about how difficult a day it will be to gather around the Thanksgiving Day table. And this year, they say, it will be even worse.

As Americans hit the road for the holiday, the Associated Press reported many of the nearly 49 million people expected to travel 50 miles or more were dreading political talk during Thanksgiving thanks to the recent presidential election.

KIRO Radio’s John Curley knows a thing or two about tensions on turkey day, whether Donald Trump is president or not. Two years ago, he and an uncle and his wife from Boston stayed up until 2 a.m. arguing across the table for a “four-hour scream-a-thon” where nothing was too trivial to argue about. It’s what makes the holidays fun, he says.

“People don’t normally fight with strangers because they don’t want to get shot or punched — or worse shot and punched. But around the dinner table, you see this person once or twice a year, you don’t like each other anyway and they intentionally try to incite you into some argument anyway because they want to fight.”

So, with that in mind, here are a few of Curley’s tips for escalating or deescalating (whichever feels right) some of that Thanksgiving awkwardness:

• Deescalating: Let him get a couple verbal shots on you. Then, when you go out to do a little touch football, you do a little rough touch football. That’s alright. A little chop block here or there. Or when he’s running, you kick the feet out from under him. The ol’ kick the feet out of him move.

• Escalating: I like to egg the other person on. Take fast jabs or pot shots at my opponents beloved iconic figures. Once they are on their heels I start to include others at the table.

• Deescalating: Skip the local meal and head east – to be with the other side of the family that believes in freedom and capitalism.

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