ArcaMax

DEAR HARRIETTE: I'm struggling with this weird competitive energy between me and one of my classmates. On the surface, we're friendly -- we study together, share notes, even joke about motivating each other. But lately, it feels like our "friendly competition" is not so friendly anymore. If I do well on an assignment, they make little comments ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a friend from childhood who is a wealthy, narcissistic hoarder. This means she spends all her time buying needless crap from the bargain bins of every box store you can imagine. For example, she'll buy several blenders just because they are on sale -- not because she needs one.

Her house is filled with this junk. I ...Read more

Dear Annie: My sister-in-law has disliked me for as long as I can remember. I've never fully understood why, but over the years she's made her feelings clear in a hundred small ways -- cold shoulders at family gatherings, pointed comments and a general effort to keep me at arm's length. I've always tried to rise above it for the sake of the ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: My son died of cancer at 33. It was heartbreaking. My daughter-in-law, "Belinda," had grown distant before his death, and although they had a son through artificial insemination, I have almost never seen him. I helped with the weeding in my son's yard, but any time I came, Belinda always had the baby at the park or someplace else.

...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: I was at a happy hour for my company's end-of-year holiday party, and since I recently joined the team, I was looking forward to getting to know everyone better in a relaxed setting. At first, I was enjoying myself and everything was going well. Then one of my colleagues started talking about his political views, and the way he ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A friend of ours constantly passes his cellphone around our dinner table to share photos. My husband is immunocompromised, and so we are careful of germ exposure. We don't want to touch this friend's phone.

What is a polite way to avoid touching his phone and to stop this activity? I think we should just say, "No thanks." ...Read more

Dear Readers: I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Christmas is a very busy time of year filled with strong emotions both happy and sad. The joy and the arguments can each feel louder.

Some of you woke up to wrapping paper everywhere, excited kids, pets eating the bows and a sink full of sticky mugs. You're ...Read more

DEAR ABBY: While attending a friend's family barbecue, "Willa," a young mother of four, drank too much and became ill. Drugs may have been involved. Understandably, the three older children became very concerned about their mom's condition. Willa's partner, "Ian," was furious. My husband spent an hour de-escalating Ian's issues, while I attended...Read more

These are responses from the largest population represented in the survey, single parents whose children were at home. Confession: The issues in this section are intricate (and numerous) because of my own years as a single mom. They are irreplaceable in my memory, a learning experience never to be forgotten. (Sigh.) Onward:

--Are you more ...Read more

DEAR HARRIETTE: I'm confused and honestly a little heartbroken. My sister and I grew up incredibly close -- practically joined at the hip. We talked every day and leaned on each other for everything, and I always felt like no matter what changed around us, we would stay the same. Ever since I moved away for a new job a few months ago, it feels ...Read more

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Help! My husband and I stayed at my parents' house and slept in their guest bedroom. Friends of theirs had gifted them with a terrible, but very expensive, mattress. It slopes severely toward the edges so that you feel like you're falling all night long, making sleep impossible.

My mom happened to ask if we liked the mattress...Read more

Dear Readers: Wishing you and all a very happy holiday season. Please enjoy the following poem.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore.

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; / The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, / In hopes that St. Nicholas soon...Read more

DEAR ABBY: I'm an active senior man. To keep my beard looking attractive, a hairstylist trims it every two weeks. I've had the same stylist for three years, and we have become good friends, to the point that she has invited me to her home for an evening meal with her family. I have been there several times, but on the last occasion, she did ...Read more

Dear Annie: I am the default holiday host for my extended family. My parents are divorced and both come, my sister arrives late and stressed with her kids, my brother shows up with whatever new girlfriend he is serious about, and my mother uses the whole day to quietly criticize everyone's life choices, starting with mine.

By the time we sit ...Read more