So with the daughters visiting from college for the Christmas break, they both have brought big empty duffle bags in which to pack their boodle back to campus when they leave.

So where do we learn these pack rat skills from that fill our garages and spare bedrooms with gear? I guess I am starting to understand a bit better now. I am teaching it to my girls as well.

The girls are making quite a haul this year. Probably $2k between the two of them. I am giving the younger one my guitar, er, Sierra Nevada mouse trap, which gets it off my hands now. I wasn't playing it much anyways, and she asked for a nice steel string, so I can kill two birds with one stone there, and maybe upgrade to a better mouse trap sometime.

Then there's the usual clothing array to redo their wardrobe with. I get hit with that one at least twice a year.

If they were closer than a plane flight, they'd be going home with a load of surplus foodstuffs to get them by for a couple months. College students can never have enough noodles.

I had the wife wrap up all the items that the youngest left during her stay with me this last summer. She gets to open those before christmas cuz some of it needs to be consumed rather than transported again. Then there are the Lord God Humungous Professional cookbooks I got that she wasn't able to pack with her last time.

I suspect they will leave at least one load of goodies with us to ship to them after they return to school.

Oh yeah, they'll each get a trip to the doctor for a good once over, including eye exams and such. That pretty much kills the rest of the Christmas budget.

So how about the rest of ya.