Gift Wrapping

12/15/2013

For those of you who check in with me early in the morning while drinking their coffee, I apologize for my lateness!  Problem is/was I couldn't figure out what to write about.  Contrary to popular believe, folks that write, even if it's just a blog, sometimes come up empty.  That was me today.until I started wrapping Christmas presents.

For as long as I've been around, and trust me that's a long time, my family knows that I'm more into the hunt for the perfect gifts, than presentation!  I will literally spend hours trying to find a near perfect gift for everybody - and it's exhausting - but rewarding all at the same time.

Okay once I have scoured the internet which is much easier than jostling your way around a store and the gifts have been ordered and received, then comes the part I hate the most.  Wrapping (blah).  First you should know that I'm not good at it, and I promise you I'm not exaggerating my lack of prowess when it comes to giving people a beautifully wrapped gift.  If you're in my family/friends circle, then you know I'm doing good to get the gift wrapped!  

I don't cut the paper straight - ever.  I don't always fold over the paper so that there is no raggedy edge showing and I generally tape to the box, which I know is a no-no but I do it anyway,  because it's easier for me to get my arms around the rest of the paper needed to finish the job.  And I generally use a lot of paper - way more paper than is needed!  I never measure, so after wrapping a gift I always have too much paper hanging around at the ends of the package, which I cut off and if you're lucky sometimes I actually cut a straight (or nearly) line.

I don't decorate the packages.  I couldn't make a bow if my life depended on it.  The best I can do is use that curly ribbon which I can manage to get on a package and then use my scissors to make those pretty curls.  So if you get a gift from me, expect a lot of tape, perhaps some curly ribbon and if I can't find a gift tag, then I cut up bits of paper (which I do try to cut in a straight line) and secure that with even more tape to the front of the package.

I'd love to have some kind of designer wrapping paper but it's not cost effective when you are a haphazard wrapper such as myself!  Having only sons, I got lazy - the boys only wanted packages and they didn't even care if they were wrapped or not.  In the last few years I have taken laziness to a new level - shirt boxes taped shut!  When the boys were young, obviously everything had to be wrapped because they were curious about what they might be receiving and endless hours were spent in shaking and guessing!

At this point in my life, Benjamin is the only person who still has the "ohs and ahs" about presents. Little people get so excited and it's so much fun to watch them tear into their gifts.  I can remember being much, and I do mean much, younger and sneaking around on Christmas Eve during the night to see what Santa brought!  At the time it took simply forever for Christmas to arrive. I know my mother heard me but I was never shushed back to bed. Jeff and I did pretty much the same thing with the boys. Now as an adult, Christmas morning arrives much too soon! 

Okay my coffee cup is empty which means that my break from wrapping is over.  Back to the war, I mean wrapping zone!

Happy Sunday.

P