For many of us, the holidays bring up a familiar question, and it's not what we want for Christmas or which party we'll hit for New Year's Eve.

Fair Game

Instead of enjoying a blissful sleigh ride over the river and through the woods, most of us will be enduring endless airport lines or bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to grandma's house this holiday season. It's not exactly a recipe for serenity, or even good cheer.

The holidays mean lots of time spent with family, which can mean lots of opportunities for stress. Whether your brother-in-law insists on talking about politics, your mother probes into your love life, or your Great Aunt Jean picks her teeth at the table, family gatherings are rife with opportunities to lose your cool.

Sherry Johnson-Traver planned on taking an Alaskan cruise and traveling the world with her husband. But those plans changed when crisis struck. In 2007, just a day before their 14th wedding anniversary, her husband Ross died of lung cancer.