She needs to let her kids enjoy Christmas, even if she never will again.

We’ve all been in a situation where everyone wants to have fun, but one person is sucking all of the air out of the room. Maybe you’ve been to a bachelorette party where it’s abundantly clear that one of the bachelorettes does not like the bride’s husband-to-be, and she’s letting that feeling totally take over. It feels like nobody can talk about how excited they are for the wedding without her sighing heavily and looking miserable, making everyone feel on edge about discussing why they are celebrating. 

Being in a situation like this stinks because it really does affect everyone else. The bride feels bad because she desperately wants her friend to like her fiancé, the friend feels bad because she can’t like her friend’s fiancé no matter how much she tries, and all of the other bachelorettes feel bad because there’s an elephant in the room that can’t be addressed and can’t be resolved over the course of a weekend that was meant for debaucherouspartying. The friend is really the only one who has any control over the situation. No matter how badly she feels, she has a choice to set that resentment toward her fiancé aside for the weekend and work on regulating her emotions. Maybe she won’t be able to be this guy’s best friend, but she can show her friend she cares by putting some effort into her attitude.