TALK Greenville December editor's letter: Allow yourself a break during the holidays

Not too long ago I was at lunch with two of my favorite people.

One of them has recently turned four and her sister is two. Let’s just say they are very enthusiastic in all that they do.

We were enjoying sandwiches and chips (some only having chips) when the older one decided she needed to use the restroom and that she very loudly needed to go right now. After several attempts to quiet her as we announced to every single table on the way what was about to happen, I explained the proper thing to do going forward would be to ask “to be excused.”

Seeing that she seemed to totally understand this concept, I smugly buckled both of them into the car and we headed on to the next stop.

This stop had more chips, which by now had proven to be a crowd favorite. Both of my companions dove in with glee as they chased each other around with arms full of all kinds of fragile (not ours) bags of chips. After unsuccessfully chasing them for a while, I zeroed in on the older sister hoping to sober her up with the idea that it was up to her to set a good example.

She stared up at me with big blue eyes as I sternly explained just that, once again marveling at my own excellent mentoring skills.

She had only one response: “I need to be excused.”

So now we are full swing into the holiday season and as joyful as it can be to deck the halls, we will no doubt find ourselves in a situation or two which may turn out to be undesirable. My advice would be to use these words as needed. After all, we could all use a little break and a few chips.

Just don’t forget to be enthusiastic no matter what you do.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: TALK Greenville December editor's letter: Excuse me, please