How Do You Handle Taboo Conversations at the Dinner Table? [POLL]

Everyone loves a great dinner party - especially around the holidays when family gathers from all across the city/state/country/world to spread holiday cheer. However, there are some topics of conversation most of us would prefer to avoid.

Past relationships - how should that topic be handled? Why would we want to talk or think about (or be told) what we could have done differently in our failed marriage? I have never been married, however, I do have an ex that my family took forever to get over - even long after the breakup occurred (it's been a while since this issue was settled, thankfully). That was a really annoying topic that would be brought up - mistakes, what my family had wished for, etc. Not only was it annoying, but it was distracting me from new relationships I was trying to build.

Which brings me to another topic - new relationships. Perhaps you started seeing someone just before the holidays, but it hasn't developed into anything solid or serious quite yet. Do you tell your family about them? On one hand, you're super excited about this new person in your life and you want the world to know how smitten you are with them. On the other hand, it's not serious - so what happens if things don't work out after you've told everyone how much you like this person? Eh...we should probably just avoid talking about that, too.

Relationships aren't the only awkward topic, however. Sex, religion, politics, previous dinner party fiascos, and off color humor are other hopefully off-limit topics, too. And how dare Aunt Sally tell you your fruitcake isn't as good as your great-grandmother's!?

Tell me which topics should be avoided in the poll below, and if they're brought up, how do you handle answering them?