Gift Guide #6: Your Awesome Dad Who Can Drive on Icy Roads (and Other James-Bond-Like Things).

I don’t get the headline. If you live where it drops below freezing, you know how to drive on ice. Is it insinuating that dads drive adult females around when the roads have ice?

I’m always amazed when gift guides for men don’t include mesh shorts or white undershirts.

Great stuff! A few additional ideas, if anyone needs them:
My husband’s new clothing go-to: Taylor Stitch.
More magazines: Monocle!! (and any of their travel guides etc.), Wallpaper*, Wired… A great way to spend quiet time reading, not on the phone.
Art: I got him a wood-cut of Lake Tahoe, our favorite place to go
Concert tickets or tickets to an unexpected sports event (basketball anyone?) – buy a pair, for a date night (warning: always gets the same response at first: “oh… tickets”. and then we go to the event and I get “oh man! this is so awesome!”)

I haven’t read Exhalation, but Ted Chiang’s previous book of short stories (“Stories of your life”) was amazing. It contains the short story that the movie “Arrival” was based on!

Yes to framed photos! Last year I got my 100 year old grandmother a recent photo of my sister and I, framed, having realized she didn’t have any photos of us since we were in high school (15 years ago!). It went over super well and she still tells me how much she loves it every time she sees me. Of course, I’m totally screwed for this year because I can never top it. ?

You just picked that cashmere-wearing-dad because he looks like a grown-up Toby!

OMG, yes. We don’t really do holiday gifts in my family, and I’m to the left myself, but I belly-laughed imagining getting a subscription to the Atlantic for my Rush Limbaugh/Fox News-consuming conservative father or Trump-supporting brother. It would be Shots Fired! I had actually been contemplating a subscription to the WSJ for my brother, but even that would be too on-the-nose mainstream media for him at this point.

I bet COJ could put together a really thoughtful piece on navigating through “politically blended” families — maybe there have already been posts like this? I think this is one of the ways we can fight back against the toxic political galvanization that’s happening — figuring out ways to talk with one another. My parents have quietly canceled out one another’s presidential votes for years and managed to live in harmony despite this. The Trump era has created a level of division and awfulness that they never really had to navigate before. I am still able to have reasonable conversations with my dad and brother, and I think we all do a decent job of trying to listen to one another, but it is like walking on eggshells. I have a lot of older extended family members running very far down the right-wing propaganda rabbit hole, who weren’t this extreme just a few years ago. Any tips or anecdotes for finding common ground with family members with extreme political views? I still believe we have so much more in common than different. Luckily, my dad and brother are not religious — if they were, I think these conversations would be even harder to have; it is very difficult to argue with someone who thinks their beliefs are divinely mandated.

The ornaments brought me back to my Grandma’s kitchen. She collected magnets, which covered her fridge. Some of my favorites were food items: chocolates in crimped paper, a striped lollipop, Chuckles, juicy fruit gum, taffy pops, and a doughnut with pink frosting and sprinkles.

I SEE YOU ALL, COMMENTERS!!! Have enjoyed these gift guides for years and been touched and amused at the titles, but this was the one that made me think “OMG SOME PEOPLE HAVE THESE NORMAL HEALTHY NON-TOXIC LOVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS??? WOW!” You guys are all cracking me up on here, and I love you guys :)

Anything personal framed is a showstopper gift. For my dad’s 50th birthday, his older brother gave him a framed left-handed catchers mitt. My dad had one back in the 70’s and practically slept with it back when he played baseball. My uncle, notoriously anti-clutter, sold it in a garage sale not knowing how significant it was. It hangs in my dad’s office and reminds us all of two things – his love of baseball and how my uncle was Marie Kondo-ing before it was a thing.

I love that Patagonia is matching donations! Every year part of my gift to my dad is a gift to an organization he cares about, and this is such a cool way to make it more impactful. Thank you!!

Hahaha… Joanna and team please do run a special segment on these lines this year!!! My contribution… ‘Gift Guide for your ultra conservative brother who mooches off of you yet whines that you as a woman don’t know how to cook’.

An electric bike!!! My Dad (age 82) has had macular degeneration for over 10 years. He had to give up his drivers license (6 yrs ago), his motorcycles (5 yrs ago)and basically his independence. Fortunately he has an amazing wife (my mom) who will drive him anywhere . . . but who wants to give up their independence?! Although legally blind he is able to maneuver an electric (Ebike) bike (his brand is Blix) b/c the tires are wide, he knows the roads where he lives, and he can get help up the hills w/gears 3 and 4!! It changed his life, along with an ipad (max magnification). He got his bike in May and has logged over 1,000 miles!!

Oh, my sister is a baker (in Brooklyn!) and I just ordered her the ornament that looks like a stick of butter. It’s PERFECT. I was super stuck when trying to think of what to get her for Christmas so thank you!

It’s funny to see this site’s liberal bias come into play with a gift guide of all things! I don’t mind in the least (it’s your site, after all) but it makes me chuckle.

Boy of boy that model in the first picture… what a cutie!! :) *blush*

On the family heirloom: After my grandfather passed away in Jan 2010, we cleaned out my grandparents house and I spent HOURS pouring over old photos. I found one of his wallet-sized headshots from college (they were so fancy back in the day!) and on the back was a love note to my grandmother. They were from different sides of the tracks and had quite a love story. I kept it, framed it, and gave it to my mom for Christmas. She still tells me how much it makes her smile. Sometimes the best gifts cost you very little, but give to the recipient for years.

These are all perfect gifts for my boyfriend!

I gave my dad Exhalation for Father’s Day this year and he LOVED it. I read it too and it was so much fun to talk about the stories and compare notes. Definitely recommend.

The gift guides always have great ideas (I especially enjoy the ones for kids!), but reading this I can’t help chuckling about what a gift guide would look like for family members with whom I have a dysfunctional relationship. “Gift Guide 6: Your Puritanical Father Who Prohibited Listening to Secular Music in Your Youth, and Destroyed Your Secret Stash of CDs When He Found Them” or “Gift Guide 7: Your Emotionally Needy Mother who Loves Your Kids, but Also Donald Trump.”