Dear Savvy Senior,

Dear Annie: I am looking forward to the holiday season this year, just as I have in years past, and I wanted to share my thoughts about this. Being an octogenarian, born in 1940, I see things more clearly as I enter the twilight of my life.

Dear Annie: My mom’s husband molested my sister more than 25 years ago. I was a teenager at the time, and because I lived with my dad, I didn’t know all that went on. I do know that the case went to court, thanks to my dad, who always stuck out his neck for us. (I’m glad I wasn’t living with…

Dear Heloise: After adopting my rescue dog, last year, I noticed when buying her cushioned beds, the washing instructions said to throw the whole bed into the washing machine. I don’t know about your house, but my washer cannot handle a whole dog bed, and it’s inconvenient and expensive to t…

I don’t know if it was the rain, but the gopher seems to be active already. Usually they start becoming more active, in January.

Dear Annie: My boyfriend and I are in love, and we’ve been together for five years and have lived together for the past three years. He moved in with me after his divorce. Now, from that divorce, his credit was horrible. So, since living together, I pay all of the household bills and occasio…

Dear Heloise: We have three indoor cats, and they have two litter pans, which we keep clean at all times. I was about to use bleach to clean out the litter pans when my husband stopped me. He claims that the ammonia from our male’s urine should never be mixed with bleach. If you’d heard him,…

Dear Readers: Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and joyous Thanksgiving. As we gather around the table, it is a good time to reflect on all the things that we can be thankful for. It is a time to appreciate what you have and treasure the very moments that you are spending with friends or…

Dear Heloise: This is a response to Nell V.’s letter encouraging parents to teach their children to read before entering kindergarten. She had some good thoughts (not rushing was my favorite). I have taught reading for 30 years in both public and private schools. To teach reading to your chi…

Dear Readers: As we prepare our tables and tummies for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving celebration, I find myself reflecting on the countless things I am grateful for. From good health to loving friends and family to our wonderful community of readers and letter writers, there are so many things, bi…

Dear Heloise: My husband and I are having a debate over which is better to use: unsalted butter or salted butter. I like to buy unsalted butter and keep it in a butter dish I got in England where you can put the butter in and fill the dish with water, then place the cover over the butter and…

It seems only a week or two ago, we sweltered through a punishing heat wave that soared to 112 record degrees, but now it is cool and positively autumnal, ushering in the week of Thanksgiving.

The holidays are fast approaching. With Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, travel and family gatherings are on the itinerary for many.

Dear Heloise: I read your column about gifts and wanted to share some ideas I’ve discovered. I will be 90, in November. I live independently, but no longer drive. While the suggestions so far were good, I’ve found that I don’t need many “things” anymore. I much prefer gift cards. The hair sa…

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been married for a couple of years; we each have children from previous relationships and no children together. Individually, we both make good incomes. He is in real estate, and I am a software programmer.

Dear Annie: With reference to a recent column in which the reader said she had lost her home to a reverse mortgage, there are two primary ways this can happen, and I want to explain how to avoid this so that it never happens to any other reader.

Today’s Sound Off concerns respite care:

Wandering poorly prepared into a discussion about video games is ill-advised. Yet, people who don’t play video games commonly argue that long hours spent focused on digital playthings, especially by children, rot their brains. It is an uninformed point of view.

Dear Savvy Senior,