Stressed about the holidays? Carolyn Hax has advice.
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Carolyn Hax has been an advice columnist for The Washington Post for over 25 years. So, she’s seen, heard and read it all. There’s no family drama and no question too bizarre for the seasoned columnist. That’s especially true during the holiday season, when some relationships get tested more than usual.
Today on the show, host Elahe Izadi brings Carolyn into the studio to answer some reader questions, putting her to the test on some tough holiday scenarios.
Today's episode was produced by Sabby Robinson and Josh Carroll. It was mixed by Sam Bair. It was edited by Reena Flores and Haben Kelati.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Carolyn, you've been doing this for a while. |
| 0:02.4 | What is like the one question that you get year after year after year to the point where |
| 0:07.8 | you're like, why do I keep getting this question? |
| 0:10.2 | Why can't people get it in their heads? |
| 0:12.4 | Like, what is that question for you? |
| 0:14.4 | Oh, do I have to go to my family's Christmas? |
| 0:17.7 | Really? |
| 0:18.5 | Yes. |
| 0:19.4 | What is the answer? |
| 0:20.4 | You don't have to do anything. |
| 0:23.5 | Like in life. And it's going to, in life, right? And it's like the sentence, do I have to blank? No. |
| 0:30.5 | No. |
| 0:35.2 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports. |
| 0:39.2 | I'm Elahe Izadi. It's Tuesday, December 23rd. |
| 0:43.4 | Today, I'm joined by advice columnist Carolyn Hacks to talk about how to navigate the holidays. |
| 0:49.3 | Carolyn has been writing her advice column for the Post for nearly 30 years now. So she's seen and heard |
| 0:56.1 | it all when it comes to messy relationships and tricky family dynamics, especially around |
| 1:01.8 | this time of year. So today we brought Carolyn into the studio to answer some reader questions |
| 1:06.6 | and we're going to put her to the test with some tough holiday scenarios. |
| 1:11.4 | Carolyn, thanks for joining me today. |
| 1:13.8 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:17.2 | Are you ready for this? |
... |
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