My parents moved several times while I was growing up. We were the only grandchildren on mom’s side of the family for many years, and I can only imagine how much our grandparents, aunts, and uncles missed us every time we moved away.
One of the best things they did to keep in touch with us was to send little boxes full of stuff. Candy. Clippings from the Sunday comics. Books. Letters. Once they even included a tape of my grandfather telling stories about his childhood. Half of our excitement was rooted in getting mail addressed to us specifically. It made me feel very grown up and important!
They stopped doing it once we moved back to Ohio when I was 11, but I dreamed about those deliveries for years to come.
I’ve been working on my own care package of Canadian sweets recently. There are a lot of candy brands up here that I’ve never seen in the U.S., and I thought it was about time to share a few of them with my grandparents and extended family. The best part of it is finding something special that I know they’d never pick out for themselves but that I suspect they might like. Some people are easier to figure out than others. Solving that riddle is surprisingly fun though!
What do you add to the care packages you send out? What the best care package you’ve ever received?