The holidays often provide us with an opportunity to spend more time with family than usual. I come from a pretty large family and am fortunate that everyone on my side lives close and can all get together often this time of the year. If your parents or other relatives are getting up in age I'm sure you noticed changes in their abilities over the last year. I know we did. My Mom insisted on continuing the tradition of Christmas lunch at her house this year, but it was clearly to much for her. Although we realized that would be the case, she resisted any change and refused repeated attempts to help. It is a delicate situation to try and relieve the load from a family member without making them feel bad. In the case of my parents it is time for them to be "guests" at these traditional family events and not feel like they have to do it all. Hopefully we can convince them that they have instilled in all the children a strong since of tradition that we want to carry on and it is time for us to do the bulk of the work.