The perfect Lutheran hymn is “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You” for the weeks before Christmas, but shoppers will never hear it between Muzak versions of “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas” in their local malls.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m a 75-year-old woman who has lived in the same charming walk-up apartment in New York City for more than 40 years.
• There’s no need to buy shredded paper or gift-bag filler from a store when you can easily make your own. Older paper shredders are great for turning scrap paper or junk mail into filler. You can also invest in a pair of shredder scissors, which let you manually create long paper strips. Use the homemade paper fill to cushion fruit in gift baskets or to protect fragile items when shipping.
Ihate getting sick.
DEAR HARRIETTE: My colleague has a tendency to be unapologetically late, and I can’t stand it! We’ve traveled together in the past for work, and I have seen firsthand how careless he can be with his time – even for work functions.
After two National Guard members were gunned down by an immigrant from Afghanistan, President Trump immediately seized on the shooting to escalate nativist fears of foreigners.
Dear Doctors: This weird thing keeps happening where it feels like the sock in my left shoe has gotten wadded up underneath the ball of my foot. Every time I check, nothing is wrong. Is something wrong? My health insurance isn’t very good, so deciding to see a doctor is a big deal.
Nearly four years ago, on Jan. 18, 2022, I wrote about a frenzy that was sweeping the anti-Trump world. It had to do with a novel theory of the 2020 presidential election dispute: Here’s the short version: Trump supporters in a few states – Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, and New Mexico – were so brazen that in the days before Dec. 14, 2020, when the Electoral College voted to confirm (former President) Joe Biden’s victory, they actually forged documents falsely purporting to be Electoral College results for (President Donald) Trump and sent them to the appropriate authorities in Washington and in their home states. They then planned to use the forgeries to steal the election on Jan. 6, 2021. All the while, they hoped no one would notice.
DEAR HARRIETTE: I go to a dog park weekly, and there’s one dog owner who keeps letting their dog jump all over me and my dog, even though I’ve repeatedly tried to set boundaries. I’ve politely asked them to control their dog, and I’ve even stepped in front of my dog to block the other dog when it gets too rough, but nothing seems to stick. Every time it happens, the dog owner laughs it off and says, “Oh, he’s just excited!” or “He doesn’t mean anything by it,” but I feel disrespected, and my dog seems stressed by the repeated interactions. What makes it worse is that the other regulars at the park also laugh it off, so I start to feel like I’m the one overreacting. I love going to the dog park, and I enjoy socializing, but this situation has made it stressful, and I’m starting to dread attending.
Dear Doctors: I know therapists use music to get through to people with Alzheimer’s disease who don’t really connect with anything else anymore.