A Christmas Quirk…

A few years ago, I decided to quit buying wrapping paper for Christmas and most other occasions.    Giving up wrapping paper wasn’t easy for me.  I love pattern and color and I’ve always enjoyed the act of wrapping and making beautiful packages.  But one year, it just hit me that it was naughty and not nice for me to spend the money or use all that virgin paper just for one day. 

Over the years, I have used up piece by piece what commercial paper I had laying around.  So I have had to get creative.  I have a stash of cloth bags I’ve made that we use every year.  And I use old, outdated road maps and newspapers for most of the bigger stuff.  Brown paper bags make terrific gift containers.  They can be decorated and used over and over and over. 

So anyhow, that’s my quirk.  Greg and the kids are used to it by now and don’t expect shiny, glitzy packages with ribbons and bows.  They’ve also gotten used to the fact that I almost always forget about something that I’ve bought and remember it on Christmas night or the next day.  One year I bought Greg a Rolling Stones CD that he got almost a year after the fact.  I found it when I was cleaning out a closet.

What they haven’t gotten used to is that I often forget to put who the package is for on the darn thing after it is already wrapped.  So it is inevitable that on Christmas morning someone unwraps something that is meant for someone else.  Oh, well, it keeps things interesting.  Maybe I will try to reform myself this year and go see if there are any unmarked boxes down there now.  Nah.  Why change a life long tradition?!

My friend Dianne O-J repurposed some old blueprint paper using an egg cookie cutter as a stencil, a black sharpie and her imagination.  I think it’s great!  

O-J also gave me the directions on how to make these great bows out of just about any kind of paper you have laying around.  Jaunty and nice.