Thanksgiving -- a day when you can enjoy spending time with your family while stuffing your face full of an unnecessary amount of food guilt free -- many consider it to the best time of the year. However, for many others, spending time with your family can lead to some awkward encounters. So in order to maximize your holiday cheer and minimize long conversations about your relationship status with your great aunt, I have compiled seven ways to avoid awkward encounters at this year's Thanksgiving feast.

1. Have an arsenal of dog/cat/panda videos ready to show in case anyone gets into a political dispute -- it'll ease the tension.

How angry can people get when watching a panda video really?

2. If someone asks a question about a highly controversial subject you don't want to answer, just stuff your mouth full of food so you can't talk.

Then you don't have to answer and you get food!

3. Thanksgiving isn't just about eating, it also involves a good deal of napping. Therefore, anytime a fight breaks out, you can avoid take sides by just falling asleep!

Napping > Listening to your uncle with the "make America great again" hat argue with your aunt who has a "Bernie 2016" bumper sticker.

4. Look up fun new adjectives to use when your relatives ask you how school is going to change things up.

Aunt Marg: "So how are you're finals looking"?

You: "Oh, they're really quite iniquitous (unjust) this semester".

Your relative won't know what to think!

5. Make a reward system for yourself.

At the end of the day, you might have to suck it up and listen to your uncle go on a 15 minute rant about how millennials are ruining the country, but just remember, now you have another reason to eat another slice of pie.

6. Anytime someone asks you a personal question (relationships, friendships, etc.) that you don't want to answer, just start talking about the musical Hamilton instead.

"What a revolutionary idea!"

"I know, simply amazing."

7. Try to remember, these are the people you love.

During stressful moments, just try to remember the times when people in your family got along (even if that time only lasted 30 seconds).