DEAR ABBY: Eleven years ago, my 7-year-old son, Nicholas, was shot in a botched robbery in Italy. His organs were donated to seven Italian citizens. Since that time, donation rates in Italy have tripled and thousands of people – many of them children – are alive who would have died.

Through its annual Holiday Resolution Campaign, the National Kidney Foundation is urging Americans to consider the ultimate holiday gift idea – organ donation, the gift of life. By simply signing a donor card or enrolling in a state donor registry, we can do for the United States what Nicholas’ story did for Italy.

Abby, I hope you will join me in urging your readers to sign donor cards, and give those in need of the gift of life a new beginning. – REG GREEN, LA CANADA, CALIF.

DEAR REG: I’m pleased to do so. I remember reading newspaper accounts of the courageous way you dealt with your son’s tragic death, and the difference it made in the attitude toward organ donation in Italy. That you took the pain of losing your son and turned it into something positive is inspiring.

Please, readers, take a moment and consider the importance of organ donation. Discuss it with your families because it is they who will have the final say. For more information or to receive a free donor card, contact the National Kidney Foundation by calling toll-free (800) 622- 9010, or visit www.kidney.org and click on “Transplantation.”

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, “Liam,” is a fabulous guy. We get along great – as long as I don’t leave the house. I am the only one working right now, and he makes me feel guilty for it. I go home for two hours every day at lunch and he picks a fight with me. He constantly calls me at work to ask if I am cheating on him.

Abby, I am working! I really want to be with Liam, but I can’t feel sad and hurt all the time because I have a family to support. Please tell me how I can nicely tell Liam to stop being a jerk. – MIXED UP IN MAINE

DEAR MIXED UP: Liam isn’t a “jerk.” He’s not working, probably feels like less of a man for it, doesn’t feel he deserves you, and is desperately insecure. Was he always this way – or did it start after he stopped working?

If it’s the former, then your “fabulous” guy is showing classic signs of being an abuser, a problem that will only escalate, and you need to get away from him. If it’s the latter, then he needs to get out of the house, if only to volunteer some of his free time. That way he will contribute to something, possibly meet people who can give him employment, and have less free time to obsess about you. Please encourage him to do it.

DEAR ABBY: Six years ago, my niece gave me an antique table. It was in very poor condition. I restored it and used it until I moved into a smaller home last year, when I gave it to my daughter, who has more room.

My niece saw it, and now she’s “demanding” that my daughter give it back. Can we be forced to return it? – MRS. C., MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C.

DEAR MRS. C.: Not in my book. Unless the table was given to you with the clear understanding that if you didn’t need it, the piece would be returned to her, then it was a gift and not a loan. And once a gift is given, it is the property of the recipient to do with as she (or he) wishes.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.