As we get closer to the Big Day, a reminder that simply not being a jerk around your extended family can be a gift you choose to give, however poverty-stricken you may be. (And if that requires teetotaling, so be it.)

Maybe it's boring when everybody gets along politely, but the alternative is making a few dear people ( or a bunch ) miserable so you can express some angst or shoot off your mouth. Not a gift.