Dear Annie: My nephew has lived with us since he was 16 years old, after my brother threw him out of his house. My brother then called me to see if he could stay with us. My sister and I accepted him into our home.

I am a college student, and I just finished my finals for the fall semester and am now on winter break. Right toward the end of finals week, one of my professors had a medical emergency and had to miss our final day for surgery.

My nephew has lived with us since he was 16 years old, after my brother threw him out of his house. My brother then called me to see if he could stay with us. My sister and I accepted him into our home.

On the other hand, my brother and his wife switched jobs often and lived a life of “keeping up with the Jones.” They always complained about not having enough money but then would go out and borrow money for a new car or to take a vacation. That was all none of our business, but we did worry about them.

My wife received a lot of guilt from them when we recently took a trip to Europe for our anniversary. Then we began to get comments like, “We wish we could do that,” or, “It must be nice.” And we have heard from a mutual friend that my brother frequently makes remarks about our lifestyle.

Now that they are retired, they are finding that living the high life is more difficult, but the spending continues, along with increased complaints. My wife received a lot of guilt from them when we recently took a trip to Europe for our anniversary.