When we were growing up, each of us kids used to get a Christmas gift for each of our siblings and something for our Mom and Dad. With five sisters and one brother, that was a lot of presents and a lot of wrapping. All the years I lived at home, I managed to convince Lisa to wrap my presents for me (except my gift to her, of course). I think she did this for me both because she was nice and because it meant she got to see what I was giving to everyone else. Each year, I'd sit and watch her and marvel at how quickly she could get the job done. All that measuring, cutting, and taping just seemed like too much work to me.
Once I left home, I was on my own. I quickly found out that wrapping presents really isn't that hard. After all these years, I've got it down to a system. First, I spread everything out on the floor: the paper, the scissors, the tape, the labels, and the pen. Then, I put my purchased gifts in a pile and size them up before getting started. My primary goal is to use the least amount of wrapping paper possible. I hate to end up with those little sections that are too small to wrap anything and have to be thrown away. I just don't like throwing away wrapping paper. I think that stems from all those Christmas mornings where my father would scavenge through the flotsam and jetsam on the floor, finding paper that could be used again the next year. I don't think my parents bought wrapping paper any more frequently than once every five years.
This year, the gift wrapping didn't go too badly:
- Twice, I ripped the paper while cutting it. I blame the paper quality.
- One gift required about 20 pieces of tape. The gift is an odd shape, so I think I did OK. And, Kim, if you're reading this, it's not a tennis racquet no matter what it looks like.
- In my quest to use the least amount of paper possible, I managed to cut out one square that was too small to completely cover the package. To make things right, I cut a couple random strips of paper and used them to fill in the gaps. I don't think anyone will notice.
- And, yes, I had to throw away a couple small pieces of paper. I made sure to tell each of them I was sorry while dumping them in the trash.
