For many, the holidays are a time filled with family, fun, and connection.  However, when there is conflict between family members, the holidays can be a source of anxiety and stress.  To alleviate their own discomfort, family members will sometimes encourage you to press pause on the conflict or push for premature reconciliation to ease their own discomfort.  While this can appear in many forms, the bottom line is that the estrangement feels inconvenient—particularly during the holiday season.  An expert in high-conflict family dynamics, Bren M. Chasse, LMFT, addresses the experience of holiday reconciliation pressure, how it functions within a complex family system, the components that foster reconciliation, and why genuine healing cannot be accelerated.  The work of repair follows its own timeline—one that honors depth over convenience and substance over surface repair.  In my many years working with high-conflict families I have learned that relationships repaired thoughtfully and on their own timeline, tend to be more resilient than those rushed to meet external pressures.