Anatomy of a College Student Care Package

The Easter care package is candy-forward, because I know what my kid likes best about Easter!

I have a whole system in place to distract myself from how much I miss my college kid. One night a week, we play Stardew Valley together and call each other on speakerphone so we can talk while we play. One night a week, we use the Hulu Watch Party to watch a couple of episodes of Schitt's Creek together while we gossip in the chat box. One night a week, the whole family Zooms. Once a month, I send her a letter. And once a month, I send her a care package!

I don't do the cute themey care packages that I've seen some parents do, because my kid and I would both think they were corny, but I've been surprised at how much fun it is just to assemble lots of little bits and bobs that I think my kid would like, then write her a little note and send it off! 

It is a constant struggle, though, to remind myself that my kid is a minimalist, and doesn't want any crap that will have to just sit around. If my kid's preferences aren't enough, I also can remind myself of how miserable it was to load the car with all her stuff for college, drive it all there, drag it all into her dorm, and help her unpack it. We'll be doing the same thing in reverse when she moves out (or at least Matt will, because love my college kid as I do, I am going to do EVERYTHING in my power to get out of being the one who goes to pick her up and bring her home at the end of the year!), so I'm very wary of sending her stuff that I'm just going to have to drive back home in a few months. I've been keeping my care packages small on purpose, and sending a lot of snacks, small items that won't take up a lot of room in her luggage, and travel-sized stuff that she can easily use up.

I've been keeping an eye on sales and Clearance racks, and squirreling away care package items as I come upon them. I also sometimes break up multi-packs, and put, say, just a couple of protein bars or pudding cups or hair ties in each care package instead of giving her twelve at once. 

SNACKS, CONDIMENTS, AND INSTANT MEALS

I thought the food at my kid's college was going to be AWESOME, because they fed us two meals when we were there for her Admitted Students Day visit, including one meal in the student cafeteria with the current students, and everything was absolutely delicious! But apparently the food they serve when guests are present is a lie, the poor kid, and mostly the meals are bland and repetitive.

And this is a kid who is certainly not accustomed to eating lovely prepared gourmet meals at home, so it MUST be bad!

Her cafeteria is also a short walk from her dorm, and it doesn't sell snacks, so there's plenty of room for care package treats that are quick and easy meals that she can make in the comfort of her own dorm, or make good study snacks, or add a bit of welcome flavor to the typical cafeteria fare. Here are some ideas:

• candy
• dried fruit
• fruit cups
• Goldfish crackers
• granola bars
• homemade treats. I bought some small disposable aluminum loaf pans that are perfect for baking mini loaves of banana and pumpkin bread in, or Matt or I will bake her a batch of one of her favorite kinds of cookie.

Her favorite Russian Tea Cookies are a Matt specialty, fortunately, so I didn't have to do any work!

• hot sauce
• instant hot chocolate
• instant noodle cups. She's got a tea kettle, and everyone loves instant noodles!
• instant oatmeal packets
• juice boxes/pouches. My kid and I have butted heads her entire life over my reluctance to buy her juice (I maintain that it's literally just nutrient-free sugar water, and she maintains that it's delicious), so putting a couple of juices in a care package is how I let her know I'm spoiling her!
• lemon juice. She specifically requested this for flavoring the school water. She keeps it in her roommate's mini fridge. 
• lunchbox-sized foods. You can get most snack foods in single-serving multi-packs. If you buy a few when they're on sale, you can put a small assortment in every care package.
• microwave popcorn. 
• nuts
• peanut butter squeeze pouches and crackers
• protein bars

Actual footage of me texting my kid at the grocery store to ask her again what her favorite flavors of Luna bars are.

It's these!!!

• pudding cups
• tea bags. 
• trail mix. 
• vitamins

CLEANING SUPPLIES AND TOILETRIES

There's a drugstore in walking distance from campus, but if my kid mentions that she's out of something and I'm about to mail her a care package, I'll toss in whatever she needs. I mean, I'm watching the sales on our regular products, anyway, so I might as well just buy it when it's cheap and squirrel it away for when she wants it! If I'm giving her something different, I'll make it a travel size so she won't be bummed to give it away if she doesn't like it... and so we won't have to lug it home in a few months!

• chapstick
• contraceptives
• deodorant
• dish soap
• disinfecting wipes
• disposable masks. Here are the ones that I buy in bulk for us. I buy myself and each kid our own pack. 
• drawer sachets
• face wash
• first aid supplies/OTC meds
• hand sanitizer
• hand soap
• laundry detergent
• lotion
• Lysol. I really like this tiny spray bottle. It's stupid expensive per ounce compared to the full-sized can, but you probably don't want to carry a full-sized can around in your backpack!
• menstruation supplies
• mouthwash
• Plan B. The expiration date on these is very good, so it's okay to just have it on hand.
• shampoo/conditioner
• spray cleaner
• sunscreen
• tissues
• toothpaste
• wet wipes

CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

My kid HATES clothes. She hates shopping for them, she hates trying them on, she hates wearing most of them, and she hates owning more than she thinks she "needs," which is never, by the way, as many items as she actually needs. Also considering the fact that if you don't own many clothes, the clothes you do own get worn out a LOT faster than if you have a larger wardrobe, and I feel like most of my time as my kid's parent has been spent secretly throwing away raggedy articles of clothing when she's not looking, wheedling her into trying on something that absolutely has to be tried on but she doesn't want to, or begging her to accept some item that she desperately needs but refuses to replace.

She went through winter in the Midwest with a coat with a broken zipper. Was I allowed to buy her a new coat? No. Instead, she asked if I would send her a pair of pliers to work the zipper with. SIGH!

So I haven't sent my own kid most of the items on this list. I can occasionally get away with sending her something I scored at Goodwill that relates to a fandom she likes, or something warm and cozy (not new-coat cozy, but, like, wool socks cozy):

• eyeglasses/sunglasses
• flip-flops/Crocs/shower shoes
• hair ties
• hand warmers. We like the disposable ones, but these rechargeable ones are SO AWESOME.
• hat/gloves/mittens. Warm hats are super easy to sew, and an especially cute one would be a fun addition to a winter care package. 
• holiday accessories
• hoodie/sweatshirt/sweater
• jammy pants
• slippers
• socks
• T-shirts
• underwear and bras
• workout clothes

STUDY, RECREATION, AND DORM LIFE SUPPLIES

My college kid is pretty independent by choice, but all the kids there seem so affable that it's not uncommon to get pulled into a group activity or casual hang-out. She also really likes her solo zen time, though, with a quiet activity and a podcast. 

• adult coloring books
• Amazon gift card
• books. When I'm thrifting, I keep an eye out for something my kid will like. Because it's dirt cheap, she can read it and then leave it in her dorm lobby for someone else to take.
• deck of cards
• decorations/photos. My kid has a digital photo frame that I keep stocked with cute photos mostly of the pets, but if I'm getting photos printed for whatever reason, I'll include a couple of cute shots of Luna and then send them in the next care package. 
• DVD player. I ended up buying a CD/DVD player that hooks up to her computer and having it shipped to her. She never plays DVDs for fun, but it turned out that her French textbook had an interactive DVD with it and she needed a player ASAP.
• earbuds
• fidgets
• gel pens
• handmade something-or-other. So far, I've made and sent a mini notebook, a pencil case, some scrunchies, and a mini Valentine garland in her school colors. 
• highlighters
• journal/sketchbook
• notecards and stamps
• pencils/pens
• post-it notes
• puzzle books
• small craft/DIY kits. My kid really likes latch hook, and I've been trying to get her into embroidery. 
• small games. My kid LOVES Timeline, which is fortunately quite compact. Cards Against Humanity is also pretty low-profile. Both games have lots of expansion packs in case she and her dorm mates get super into them.
• STEAM gift card
• stuff to share with roommate and dorm residents. I sometimes send my kid double of a treat so she can share with her roommate. Or you can send a bulk bag of candy to leave out for everyone in the dorm kitchen or lobby.
• stuffed animal. My college kid makes an exception in her minimalist lifestyle for stuffies. She wouldn't want a lot of stuff on her bed, but something super tiny would still be perfectly snuggable.

One thing that I have NOT figured out is how to make mailing these care packages less expensive!!! Her Easter care package contained her bunny onesie from home, a bunch of candy, some homemade cookies, a letter, and an enamel pin, and it cost over thirteen dollars to mail. Add anything heavier, like a book or a game or, god forbid, a full-size bottle of shampoo, and I'm looking at closer to twenty dollars. If I start with a box small enough that I'm confident I can mail it for less than ten bucks, it won't fit enough items for it to feel like a proper care package to me. To be honest, it would probably be cheaper just to buy her stuff off of Amazon and have it shipped directly to her, but that doesn't feel like a proper care package, either!

So if you've got tips for mailing care packages more cheaply. let. Me. KNOW!!!

My Kid's Baking Class, or, a Growth Mindset isn't for the Weak

fresh homemade croissant filled with prosciutto and cheese

Want to know yet another of my fun neuroses?

I don't like to see people praised for qualities like talent, intelligence, or beauty. Like, I'm not a psychopath--I tell my children and my husband that they're talented at whatever and they're smart and they're attractive, etc., but those are meant to be just, you know, the kind of compliments that make sure people know they're loved and awesome and appreciated.

But it's not, like, good or bad to be those things. People are also born the way that they're born, and they can't help how they're born. In my mind, if someone shows you, say, a test that they earned a good grade on and you say something like, "Oh, you're so smart!", you're really just pointing out that they didn't work hard for that grade because all they have is a natural knack for the material. 

This is 100% related to my childhood fucked-upness because hey, guess who got praised all the time for being smart and then about lost her damn mind when shit got difficult in college? I'll give you a hint: it's the same person who also got told all the time that she was fat and was not pretty, so I have first-hand knowledge that being called out on stuff you can't help is not the road to excellent mental health.

So for my kids' whole lives, whenever I've seen a knack emerge or a talent unfold, it's really important to me that when I encourage them, I'm encouraging them for what they've done to improve, not the simple fact of a condition they were born with. And whenever someone praises them for being smart or a good artist or looking pretty or whatever, I am 100% that nag who reminds them that it's what they do with their DNA-given amenities that's important. I have literally looked my children in the eyes and told them, straight-faced and unironically, "With great power comes great responsibility. You must use your powers for good." THAT'S how bad it is around here. 

I was kind of relieved, honestly, the other day when I started to say something about a recent compliment and my kid interrupted me to irritatedly note that, "Yes, Mom, I know it's nothing to my credit and the important thing is how hard I've worked to achieve this result! UGH!" She wouldn't be quoting me with such annoyance if she hadn't internalized the message, right?

I mean... right? Ahem.

ANYWAY, all this to say that my kid has been using her powers for SO MUCH PERSONAL GOOD lately! The kid has always had a knack for cooking, particularly baking. She likes the precision required to achieve perfect results, and she likes the artistry also required. Just between us, I also think it lends itself well to her own personal brand of pickiness, in which she wants to eat only the thing that she wants to eat and it must also be delicious and also look exactly right. 

When a kid seems to have a talent or interest in something, enrichment and challenge are the two ways to turn it into something that IS to their credit, so I've always tried to do that with this kid and cooking. She's had a lot of great experiences, but I, personally, don't have anything to teach her in that regard, being, alas, a miserable cook with zero interest in improvement, and she's never really liked children's cooking camps or classes, because she's never really found the work to be at a high enough level with the "proper" emphasis on perfection.

Junior year of high school has so far always felt like a good time for my homeschooling kids to start taking a real college class or two, and this kid actually started the summer before, when the local community college unexpectedly offered their entire summer course catalog free to current high school students. She'd wanted to take both Intro to Baking and its pre- or co-requisite, a ServSafe Manager Certification course, but alas, the baking class was cancelled so instead she chose to learn about serial killers while also becoming ServSafe certified.

And then in the fall I forced her to take a college art class, also in service of challenging and enriching one's innate gifts. 

So not until this spring semester was my kid finally able to put her ServSafe certification to use by FINALLY enrolling in this much longed for, much anticipated Intro to Baking class.

If I had known what would come home from those school kitchens, I would have moved heaven and earth to make this class happen sooner. Because OMG. It's like living in an expensive French bakery over here.

Check out these loaves!

The sandwich bread and dinner rolls!

The doughnuts, some filled!

And I'm not even going to lie--I teared up when I bit into this croissant, filled with homemade chocolate hazelnut spread, fresh from the oven and still warm:

Each baked item this kid has brought home has been the most delicious baked item I have ever eaten. Her cinnamon rolls were better than Cinnabon's. Her sandwich bread was better than Dave's Good Seed's. Slap my face, but her dinner rolls were better than Aunt Fannie Sue's. 

And she's got all this knowledge, now, of how stuff is supposed to be. She's reading her textbook and listening to the lectures and telling me about the baker's percent of salt in a recipe and hydrating your dough and why you should punch it down, all this stuff that I've never known and never even fathomed was something that could be known. 

I made a batch of apple muffins over the weekend, mostly because apparently only my college kid was doing her duty with the apples so we suddenly had several extremely puny-looking ones in the fruit bowl that nobody in their right mind was going to eat out of hand, but also because I thought that people might like muffins. And people ate them okay, but they for sure weren't delicious. I think I didn't use enough oil, and they were definitely too dry so I probably overbaked them, too? So I mentioned the uneaten muffins last night, as a reminder that they still existed and we needed to force-feed them to ourselves the next morning, and my kid was all, "Oh, right! We're actually making muffins in my class tomorrow!"

My immediate thought was, "Oh, shit! I will never be able to make a muffin again! Everyone will know that my batter wasn't hydrated and my baker's percentage of baking soda was off and I don't know how to cook!"

But you know what? That's the young me talking, the little kid who thought that smart is something that you were, not something that you did. What I'm ACTUALLY going to do when my kid brings home her beautiful batch of muffins in a few hours, the ones that will look and taste a thousand times better than my dry, hard apple muffins, is praise them for how beautiful they are and how delicious they taste, ask my kid a billion questions about how she did such and such to get such and such, compliment her for the work she put into improving her skills and achieving such a perfect result...

... and then ask her to teach me to make delicious and beautiful muffins, too. Tbh I'd kind of rather continue to bake sub-par muffins than take the time and effort to learn the skill properly, but we must let the kids see us practicing a growth mindset if we want them to do it, too, sigh and ugh.

There's a New Fence in the Yard

 

Ugh, I wish we'd done this a decade ago.

The other night I was texting back and forth with my college kid, telling her about Luna's day in my care (we had a nice walk, then some breakfast, then I turned my electric blanket on high so she could lay on it all day, then Matt and I took her for a hike and she saw some deer, then I let her try out the new lick mat that I bought her, then she curled up on the couch so I tucked her in with her favorite fleece blanket, etc.), and she accused me of taking the opportunity of her absence to spoil her dog.

RUDE!

Also true. I mean, my kid's not here, so other than texting her all day and Zooming her once a week and playing Stardew Valley together once a week and watching a couple of episodes of Schitt's Creek online together once a week and sending her monthly care packages with curated treats and toiletries and little handmade gifts inside what am I SUPPOSED to do with all this obsessive parent energy?!?

Spoil the one other creature in the family who misses my kid as much as I do, of course!

It's telling, ahem, that I have thought for the entire decade+ that we've lived in this house that a front yard fence would be great for the kids--the whole family, really--and I didn't get around to insisting on it hard enough to make it happen until the kids were grown and the main ones who'll benefit from it are me and the dog.

Whatever. It's here now, and I LOVE it!

The fence guys for sure side-eyed my instructions for the fence, but the lead guy said, "I just do what I'm told and don't ask questions," followed in the same breath by "WHY do you want a privacy fence only on one side of the yard?"

Because this beautiful privacy fence side--

--faces the street! My across-the-street neighbor is delightful, generous, and kind in person, but he's got lots and lots of Trump flags facing our house, and he's got two absolutely GIANT lamps at the end of his driveway that he never, ever turns off and whose bulbs never, ever seem to burn out. They just burn, bright as the sun, all through the night directly into all of our bedroom windows.

As a bonus, this is where I hang all of our laundry to dry, seasonally, and now I don't have to worry that someone will drive by, become consumed with jealousy of my beautiful handmade quilts and clothes, and sneak into the yard to steal them:

The other two sides of the fence are your basic chain link--

--because they face other parts of our property and I didn't want to cut that off visually.

THIS side even faces the south!

I *think* I'm going to move all of those raised garden beds to live next to this fence, although lord knows how I'm going to water them because I already own the longest hose that Menards even sells. 

I'm pretty excited about planning new garden elements to fit in with the new fence. This is my Late Winter of Optimism, my favorite gardening time of the year, before I have to come to terms with the fact that the parts of the property that I can garden on just don't get the amount of sunlight needed to make whatever I want to do possible. If anyone wants to throw out any great gardening and landscaping ideas for me, feel free! I've got an east-facing hill with morning full sun and afternoon full shade that I'd like perennial coverage on to the extent that I never have to risk my life mowing it again, and a south-facing yard that I'd be happy to have raised garden or bed plants in that gets morning full sun and afternoon dappled sun through the branches of black walnut and persimmon trees. 

Tell me daily that berry bushes will not live in either of these spots. I need to hear it every single day or I'll plant them and be sad.

Family Gifts That Teenagers Don't (Completely) Hate

The original Beach Hair Don't Care buddies at Sleeping Bear Dunes in 2022!

When the kids were pretty small, I made up this thing where I give everyone a "family gift" on Christmas Eve. It wasn't really a big deal when the kids were little and they already always wanted to do stuff with us, but now?

OMG it's a big deal!

My nearly-all-the-way-grown teenagers are actually still excellent about acting like they want to spend time with their boring parents, but even then there's so much that takes us all away from each other constantly--everyone has jobs, the kids have school and extracurriculars all over the place at all times, then they have more schoolwork to do when they're home, then when they're done with all of that their friends would like to see them sometimes, too! 

So family time is extra precious now, and these family gifts are a sneaky way to legislate it into our busy lives.

Here are some of everyone's favorite family gifts over the years:

books and movies

Up through just a few years ago, we constantly had a family read-aloud going. It was real old-fashioned, and very much a stereotypical homeschool family thing, but we LOVED it. We plowed through a ridiculous amount of Jules Verne that way, and the entirety of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with so much more. 

Other good books for reading aloud with families of all ages include the All-of-a-Kind Family series, Anne of Green Gables series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark is Rising series, the Harry Potter series (buy the books used so you don't support Rowling), the Little House series, The Once and Future King, and the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories. 

The kids, well into their teenaged years, eventually lost interest in being read to, but we all still really like to watch long-winded television and movie series together--one of our goals for Thanksgiving break, actually, was to re-watch the entire Jurassic Park franchise, which we happily did over several nights. And our years-long, at this point, challenge to watch the entirety of Supernatural has no end in sight!

We've got a lot of movies that we like to watch yearly, with the entirety of October being Horror Movie Month and the entirety of December being Christmas Movie Marathon Month. A LONG, long time ago, I made everyone watch White Christmas during this month, not even exactly expecting my young kids to like it, but essentially just because I love musicals and *I* wanted to watch it that year.

Ummmm.... we all LOVED it?!? Mind you, we skip the "minstrel number" because it's gross, but over what must be, at this point, at least a decade of yearly viewing, we've developed a few different headcanons and secret subplots and a billion inside jokes that feed into the rest of the year, not the least of which is this particular number:

I quite like to sing it to the children whenever they're not getting along AT ALL.

Good movies and series to watch with the family include Doctor Who, Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings movies, the Marvel movies, Psych, Sharknado, Sherlock, and Star Wars. 

camping and outdoor stuff

I leap upon any chance to get the kids away from their screens. I mean, screens are great, because that's how a lot of kids, mine included, do a lot of their socializing with friends these days, and I wouldn't take away their group chats for the world, but I LOVE it when there's a handy, no-fault excuse to be all, "Dang, no wi-fi or data? Guess we'll just have to talk to each other!" I went cabin camping with my Girl Scout troop last weekend, and it was pretty magical to see all the ways that they related to each other without screens. They played card games, listened to music, made Christmas crafts, cooked, and talked and talked and talked and talked!

Not every outdoor activity has been a hit, but most of us more-or-less enjoy activities like skiing, kayaking and paddleboarding, hiking, snorkeling, and bicycling. All the matching gear for that can get VERY spendy, but most of it you can keep using practically forever. And some stuff, like these hand warmers that I put in everyone's stocking last year, actually aren't too pricey and get tons of use over the winter. I can also still usually bribe teenagers to come outside when there are marshmallows, so fire pits big and small are always fun.

I wouldn't dare try to get away with giving camping stuff as a family gift anymore, but the kids used to like camping pretty well, and receiving gifts like their very own hiking backpacks and backpacking tents was once upon a time very fun! Fortunately, I bought that stuff to last, because even now when I have to make them come with me they can still use it all.

class or adventure

2021 pre-Christmas trip to New York City!

There was exactly one year in which both of my kids enjoyed traveling, and OMG I enjoyed every second of that year. I miss you, 2018! Both before and after, one or the other of my kids have been grumpy travelers, and sometimes I'm lucky enough for both of them to be accompanying me only under duress. 

Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day in that magical year of 2018!

But even when a kid proclaims to be absolutely miserable on the magical adventure that I have thoughtfully planned out for her, they still have a perfectly fine time whenever they forget to gripe about it. The crankiest traveler is also generally amenable to super quick family trips that we take just to do one or two especially cool things. Good family gifts include train or plane tickets, theme park tickets, concert or show tickets, passes to ski resorts or waterparks, and gift cards to trampoline parks, climbing gyms, and arcades. 

Everyone in my family also likes more guided experiences like museum or zoo behind-the-scenes opportunities, classes for skills like glass blowing or baking, and open-ended activities like pottery painting or candymaking. We also don't fight too much when we share subscription boxes, and it's fun to think of more things to add to the experience every month, like a themed movie or restaurant. 

And it's not quite a Christmas gift for us, exactly, but my town has a ton of opportunities to sponsor and shop for a local kid's Christmas wish list, and it is SO FUN! You get to argue as a group over which pair of baby leggings is cuter, and dither over Monster Jam trucks because you can't decide if the shark one or the dinosaur one is more fun, and pick out little stocking stuffers and matching blankies, and then you get all the extra fun of thinking about how much they're going to love their presents, and thinking of them again on Christmas day when you know they're probably opening their gifts, hoping that they're having an absolutely marvelous time. Here's the set of four siblings that my Girl Scout troop is shopping for this year, if your family doesn't have time for a full-on shopping expedition but still want to make some kids' holiday a little more magical.

craft or DIY kits

I love family projects, and I can generally get the teenagers on board, too, if the project isn't too corny. Whether or not a project is too corny depends on the teenager--one of them, for instance, has now declared tie-dye corny, which is ridiculous because tie-dye is AWESOME but whatever. 

Matt is the LEGO parent, and he and the kids happily dive into even the biggest LEGO sets. I'm more the parent who instigates projects that are sneakily educational so I can put them on the kids' transcripts, or the one who buys all the crap to make the latest Tiktok food trend.

Other good family DIY kits include sourdough starters, food crafting kits, cookie decorating sets, ornament making, and kits for making useful family stuff like bird houses or feeders, coasters, and bookends. 

games and puzzles

We don't play as many family games as we did when the kids were younger, although Cards Against Humanity is still a BIG hit with everyone. What we all still really like, though, are giant puzzles that we can work on while listening to our favorite family podcasts--currently, The Black Tapes and The Magnus Archives, because Night Vale is Will's only exception to her otherwise firm rule that she only listens to serial podcasts after they're complete.

There are a few games that I play with the kids without Matt, for some reason. Syd and I are the biggest fans in the world of the Hunt a Killer series; she buys me a new one for every gift-giving occasion, and then we have a whole evening together of listening to music, eating special snacks, and solving a murder. I also have separate Stardew Valley co-ops with each of the kids, and we happily spend time together each week polishing up our farms and working to rebuild the community center. 

Other good games and puzzles to do as a family are Scrabble, Quirkle, this Harry Potter co-op game, Minecraft, Second Chance, Monopoly, and any thrift store puzzle because you never know what you'll actually get!

matching clothing

Okay, not like MATCHING matching, because even I wouldn't go for that. We've never even gone full-on matching Christmas pajamas, which is totally mainstream now. It's more like we all just get the same kind of stuff and it's funny. One year those big fuzzy adult rompers were on trend, so I surprised everybody with their own handpicked fuzzy adult romper on Christmas Eve, and everybody but Syd still wears theirs on odd winter nights, and Syd only doesn't still wear hers because she had another growth spurt after that. Another Christmas Eve I bought everybody fuzzy novelty slippers, which Matt and I still wear but the kids have since decided that they're not "slippers people," whatever that means. And another year I discovered MeUndies and thought it would be hilarious to put literal matching underwear in everyone's stockings. It was, indeed, hilarious! Mostly, though, I just, like, give everybody the same kind of wooly hat, say, so then we're all just wearing wooly hats or whatever.

Other good matching clothing items are jammy pants, novelty socks, Christmas sweaters, sweatshirts (although the kids and I all simultaneously wore our hoodies branded with Will's new college during a summer road trip, and it was AWFUL because everyone literally thought we were on a school field trip, but Will did get us a school discount at the fudge shop so it was worth it), and college or sports merch.

If you've got any other ideas for family gifts that teenagers wouldn't completely hate, I would LOVE to hear them! With Will heading off to college in a minute, I'm really feeling the urge to pack in all the family bonding time I can get, and to plan more family bonding for long-distance and school breaks.