Black sheep, un-decoration day and being like Babs

Dear Rachel,

I was reminded over the holidays why I moved so far away from my family. I love them but I do NOT love their passive communication styles and their way of trying to guilt me. Instead of thanking me for flying there, they spent my last day suggesting I was rotten for not changing my flight to stay longer. But when’s the last time any of them flew to visit me? NEVER. Do I push the issue, even at the risk of seeing them more?

– The One Who Got Away

Dear Runaway,

Heck no! The last thing any single one of us needs is more people coming to the Four Corners. There’s already too many of us here. Heck, you and I and several thousand others probably shouldn’t be here at all. Would we leave if it meant preserving the place we loved? Probably not, because you know that some remote worker would snatch up your place. And where you gonna go? Crawling back to your family?

– Imbalanced, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

When do Christmas decorations come down? One of us in this household says New Year’s Day, another says the end of the 12 Days of Christmas, and the really wrong one says first day of spring. Renewing our lease as roommates may be determined by your verdict.

– Take Down

Dear Anti-Christmas,

We really need to bring back the 12 Days of Christmas. Why should it be just one day, then (as all the memes say this time of year) a week of mindlessly eating cheese? It should be a socially sanctioned, full-on bender for nearly two weeks, at the end of which odds are no decorations are left because they’ve all been wassailed to bits. So there’s my vote.

– Festively, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

With all this talk of “manifesting” the things we want in the new year, Babs Streisand was evoked as someone who believes in manifesting. Why don’t we ever hear about people who tried manifesting, and it didn’t work out? Do they just suck at manifesting? Or is it all a random-ass crapshoot?

– Manifest Destiny

Dear American Imperialism,

It’s totally a random-ass crapshoot. But it’s a crapshoot with house odds in favor of the sorts of white people who talk about manifesting. Still, what’s it hurt to get clear on what you want, then do what you can to make it so? So long as you’re not stealing half a continent from indigenous peoples, or laying a guilt trip on your family, or leaving any garland besides Judy up through April, that is.

– Dreaming big, Rachel