Every year, I ask the children to make wish lists. The wish lists vary greatly in usefulness when holiday shopping. They are also priceless captures of each child’s personality at that moment in time. The 10-y-o’s list is a compilation of whatever he is currently playing with and any commercial he has recently seen.

The 13-y-o’s list is Hot Topic’s pop culture collection plus a lock.

The college student’s list is both obscure and extremely specific. Note the sarcastic response to years of me asking the children not to sleep with earbuds or jewelry.

The New Yorker’s list is practical and screams, “I have no storage space.”

The eldest child is not a fan of doodling or using fine motor skills. He texted me an Amazon link.

I will be making socks and underwear jokes daily until 12/17. Then, I’ll declare the cost of popcorn, soda and Star Wars tickets is their Christmas gift.

They won’t believe me.