The holiday season, wonderful and memory-making as it can be, is also a long exercise in patience for many parents. Patience for your kids, extended family, and yourself (yes, you need to be patient with yourself, too). This isn’t shocking by any means. But it’s important to be prepared and remind yourself what good patience requires. As important as this virtue is, it’s not easy to come by. When you’re stressed and overtired you might notice you have a much shorter fuse than usual. Hell, you might even think patience just isn’t something you possess — especially when it’s two in the morning on Christmas Eve you can’t seem to put together that playset. But patience is a skill and like any other it can be nurtured and grown. And that benefits everyone.