Here's the thing I've found: At this point, my journalism friends and co-workers actually know me much better than my extended family, unfortunately, since we newsroomers often spend more time together in real life, so I usually work the holidays to steer clear of any tensions that might arise during my family's blessed holiday "festivities."
Mom and Pop pashed a few years ago, and then my siblings and their families scattered pretty fast. Most of them are MAGAs and Trumpers anyway, who by nature will blindly back whatever whiteys take over next. (I am a centrist independent.) And since they have no idea of long-range ramifications other than "Biden is a dumb-fork radical geezer who raised our gas prices 10 cents!," I have no idea how to communicate with them anymore.
We tried the "no politics" rule of conversation. Didn't work.
The MAGAs kept hinting at their grievances, even though they're rich.
We were kids together, in a good home under a good roof, decades ago.
Sadly, we just don't know each other anymore. It truly sucks, but there it is ...