Steve and Mia: Is it OK to break up over the holidays?

Q: The thought of going into a new year with the man I'm seeing depresses me, so I've finally decided to end things between us.

My girlfriends keep telling me that I can't break up with him now because of the holidays. We've been together for a while and have created our own little holiday traditions over the years, so this will be hard.

He has no idea what I'm thinking. My question is, would it be cruel of me to just go ahead and do it? I don't want to buy him a present. I don't want to go to his parents' house. And I don't want to spend another New Year's Eve with him. I'm ready to move on now. At the same time, I don't want to be no Scrooge.

Steve: Like Iris DeMent sings, "I'll take my sorrow straight." Faking it just to get through the holidays is a bad idea. Give it to him straight.

Mia: Yo, playa, why didn't you do it right after Thanksgiving? That would have given him time to recover a bit before everyone started making merry. Breaking things off right before Christmas is harsh, but do what you must. He's a big boy. He'll get over it.

Q: My husband is in Afghanistan and I'm horny as hell. I don't want to break our marriage vows, but this is his second deployment and it feels like I'm in heat. Help!

Mia: Sister, keep your pants on! If you can't be faithful for your guy, then do it for your country. It would be a sad thing if service members overseas couldn't concentrate on the task at hand because they were worried about what their spouses were up to stateside.

Steve: It is your patriotic duty to buy a vibrator.