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.

By Denise Schipani

No one has to remind us that these are challenging times. I know it, for sure: until last spring, when my husband found a job after 18 months of searching, I was our sole provider. I spent that whole time firing on every available cylinder, with a knot of worry permanently fixed in my stomach.