nobody prevails in forgiveness, and that's a tough concept to get across in English.
And a tough one to get across in our culture and our humanity - true forgiveness would be much easier if we humans could let go of the need to win, or let go of the fear we will lose.

Accepting something has nothing to do with liking it...I think of it as "this is how it is - how will I react?". The only thing I can possibly change is how I react.

Holidays raise a lot of expectations...IMO, it is fine to hope, but unrealistic expectations result in us writing scripts for us and others to follow - and that invariably leads to, at the very least, disappointment.

It's my mom and me again this year...I would love to have a family Christmas with a home done turkey and all. I offered today to have it at my place...to do the cooking. Mom suggested we go out for dinner and then go to a movie.

*sigh* It's just not the same. But that's the way it is.

Advantage - She and I can ignore the Christmas shopping mania! :-)