I just realized that you probably aren’t playing in a special education class where some people find dollar bills hard to pick up. Feel free to ignore my comment about bills being hard.

You need 3 coins per person. You keep playing until everyone has zero coins except one person who usually has a few coins, the rest are in the middle of the table. I have never played for keeps. If I did then I would would plan on 3 coins per person plus some extra to replenish the pot. So maybe 5 coins per person? I don’t think dollar bills would work well. Dollar coins would be fun. We just use poker chips or those sparkly stones that go in the bottom of vases.

If I'm putting something breakable in a bag, I might wrap it in bubble wrap or something. But otherwise, nothing. But then, I wrap stocking stuffers in socks. so I am not the person to ask.

Strega Nona cooks her pasta is a giant soup kettle that is green. So, copper but not bright.

How many hours are you putting in now? How many hours of household stuff, or parenting, are you outsourcing, and would need to then provide. First year teaching is brutal. In 5 years you might have time margin, but two of your kids will be out of the house by then.

As a former public school teacher, who has many teacher friends, I don't know any who wouldn't describe it as soul crushing in the current environment.

I wouldn't lie to the child. A toddler isn't going to need an explanation for why Daddy is far away. You can just say "Daddy had to go away." "He lives in (city name) now.", "He can't come home right now", "He will be home one day." (If that's true, that they plan to reunite one day). Then you can add to the narrative without having a moment of truth where you need to undo a lie. I would also want to make sure that I was sharing information before they were hearing it from other people. If Dad getting out of jail is something that's possibly going to be discussed in his earshot, then I'd have that conversation before he's released, even if six seems really young. For my kids, the idea that other people knew things about their own family before they knew, has consistently been traumatizing. I don't feel like I've lied to my kids, but I would imagine that if I had that would have compounded the problem. My kids needed to be able to trust that I would tell them the truth.

My oldest, who has had a front row seat to his father and aunt’s dysfunction, is pretty adamant about not sugar coating things for the younger kids.

Team holy hell here.

I am not sure what there is to get. If you haven’t tasted them how would you know they don’t taste good enough to justify eating them? There are lots of things to like about deviled eggs. They are easy to make, affordable, high protein, and easy to serve and eat standing up, making them a good choice for pot lucks or appetizers.

If someone has standards they probably aren’t inviting me and mine to their party. We bring awkwardness wherever we go. I mostly bring these to family, and only DH’s side, and there I am in whoever’s kitchen cooking so it’s no big deal, but if I brought them to a neighborhood thing I’d bring a filled piping bag and it would just take a minute to assemble. Or I would buy @MercyA‘s awesome thing.

Here is some advice for deviled eggs, courtesy of my 3 year old nephew. Tell everyone the eggs are "scary". Whisper "wanna see something scary?" to everyone who comes in the door for Easter. Motion to them to follow you. Tiptoe to the kitchen. Peek in the fridge Slam the door! Run as fast as you can to the family room. Scream/giggle while doing so! Bury your head in the couch cushions while you laugh so hard you can't breathe. Repeat If there are leftovers, mash the eggs up to make "scary sandwiches" and repeat this process the next day at preschool, encouraging people to peek in your lunch box and then scream-giggling with delight. This might be even more fun than the fridge as people will have no idea why your ordinary looking sandwich is suddenly hilariously terrifying. Here is advice from my BIL: The first time you send scary egg sandwiches to preschool, add a little buffer of time to your schedule as the teachers will probably have questions at carpool. Here is the advice from my teenager: If your aunt brings an annoying non-Catholic* gentleman caller to the party, and said gentleman seems confused about the game, explain transubstantiation to him. Here is advice from me: Classics as described above are delicious but so are other flavors. Ramen deviled eggs, smoked salmon deviled eggs, and BLT deviled eggs are all good. Make the filling at home, but squirt it in at the destination. Way easier to transport that way. * The gentleman's annoyingness and non-Catholicness were unrelated. The non-Catholic part was relevant, because the guy seemed unsure whether my son was telling the truth, which made it even more funny.

Do you just have those 3 meals over and over?

A box of individual greeting cards, birthday, thank you, get well soon etc . . . Has been well received. Not a pack but a set I assembled by going to the fancy paper store and choosing specific cards I thought she would like to send.

I watched the whole thing, so I guess there's a part of me that liked it, but a fair amount rubbed me the wrong way. Definitely a lot of stereotyping. The rabbi's mom bothered me a lot. As someone who takes safeguarding of children very seriously, I really hated the idea that someone would bring a brand new relationship to a camp and let them wander around with children, where she was hidden from the leadership and demonstrated a total lack of boundaries with the children. I also found his sudden willingness to walk away from what seemed to be his life's calling heart breaking.