Conversation Prep
Before the Family Holiday
A 15-Minute Prep for the Gathering That Always Goes Wrong
This prep lets you choose your role at the family gathering before you walk in the door.
For anyone about to walk into the family gathering.
The Name It First Experience
Keeping the peace is still a role — this prep helps you choose a different one if you want. Before the Family Holiday walks you through what role you have been defaulting to at this gathering, what role you actually want to play, and what it would take to arrive with intention instead of dread. It is for anyone about to walk into the family gathering who wants to leave with more than relief that it is over. You finish in 15 minutes with a specific plan for the person you want to be at the table.
You can opt into 30-, 60-, and 90-day check-ins from your account. We recommend you do — the point is to see what changed.
Sample questions
- What role are you going to play at this gathering — and is that the role you want to play?
- What dynamic do you know is coming — and what do you plan to do when it arrives?
- What do you want to protect about your own experience of this event?
Research basis
Grounded in Bowen family systems theory on triangulation in extended family gatherings / Gottman (1999) on pre-event conversation preparation / holiday stress and family communication research.
Choose your format.
Every format asks the same questions and produces the same document.
Print Paperbackpersonalize
A real book and a pen. Write in the margins. The most permanent version of you on a page.
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eBook + journal
The full guide on any screen, with a companion journal to write your answers by hand.
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Audiobook
We read every question and every scenario aloud. For the commute, the walk, the dishes.
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Hardcoverpersonalize
The keepsake edition — sewn, ribboned, made to sit on a shelf and be returned to.
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Digital Fill + membership+membership
Answer on screen. Your responses save as you go and assemble into your finished document.
$2.99
Hands-Free Interactive + membership+membership
Listen to each question and speak your answer. We capture it. You never touch a keyboard.
Not available
Everything packages
The Paperback Everything Package
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The Hardcover Everything Package
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The Premium Hardcover Everything Package
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Choose your pace.
The Essential path takes you to your finished document by the questions that matter most. The Full-depth path walks every question, every scenario, every angle. Both produce the same signed document — one just goes deeper on the way there.
Essential path
Shorter sessions. The questions that go directly to the document.
Full depth
Every question. Every scenario, every angle.
Partner Pair
Built for two. You each work your own copy, on your own time — then you bring them together and compare, one answer at a time.
The comparison is the conversation.
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