Get out and enjoy friends and family during holidays

Well, we all know it's best to avoid fried foods, but it's hard to avoid a good fish fry - at least once and a while.

The best fish fry in the area is right close to me, in downtown West Dundee, with lots of free parking just behind the restaurant Bamboozles. I had some just recently. It's the best because the cod is hand-dipped by the cook on-site, lightly battered and fried in clean oil. Yahoo! That's the way to do it.

And the West Dundee VFW nearby also has a great Friday fish fry. I don't know if it's hand-dipped in-house. And they also have a great baked white fish.

With Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa underway, and New Year's holiday coming up, a few treats are certainly in order. And not all treats need to be Christmas cookies!

Last week I actually went to my first Christmas party of the season - my PEO Women's group's annual luncheon at Honey Jam on Euclid Avenue in Arlington Heights. The menu is tasty, but not Christmas food; however, the decorations and atmosphere were holiday related. We had a big, private room. And we played a sort of Santa gift game where everyone brought a secret gift and then we claimed them by numbers.

And tomorrow I'm going to another Christmas luncheon with my Monday women's friendship group. It will be Italian food at Cafe Roma in Elgin. A gourmet restaurant. It will be delicious.

Well, the holiday season is certainly underway.

As I was thinking of all of this merriment, my sister told me her neighbor's husband just died. A very nice man. Sad. And at the holiday season. Very hard.

Life can throw us a hard ball. My sister took her to an outpatient surgery. In the past she would have been taken by her husband, of course.

So, the point is: The holiday season is a mixed bag. Memories, both happy and sad. We really must look for the best in it. Accept and enjoy the thoughtfulness of friends and family, and extend ourselves to others.

I try to take that approach myself. And be sure to try your favorite foods, even if not the traditional dishes, such as a fish fry!

• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@comcast.net or see her blog longtermgrief.tumblr.com. See previous columns at www.dailyherald.com/topics/Anderson-Kleif-Susan.