Christmas Wrapping

I'm sitting here with a heavy heart. The seven year old casually told us tonight that he had been in the (forbidden) basement.

"Oh," I responded, trying desperately to channel Buddha, "when did you do that?"

"On Thanksgiving. I was playing hide-n-go-seek with the cousins."

And that was that.

There was no mention of the big red firetruck for his baby brother, of a pair of Lalaloopsy dolls for his sister, or of the giant roll of brown craft paper that has always been Santa's signature wrapping. Just a nonchalant kinda "Hey, I finally got to see what's on the other side of that door that's always locked."

(sigh.)

I can take it all back and start over, I just hope he still *believes*.

On the bright side, I had not yet started my *signature wrapping* which means I can actually still return the items.

My *signature wrapping* is where I remove all the commercial packaging from the presents, so that Christmas can be less about twist-ties, locating buried screwdrivers and piles of trash, and more about the joy of a much desired new toy. Here are some photos I took last year, but never posted.

I started this five years ago in effort to provide a purer Christmas experience for the kids. By eliminating the flashy and intoxicating packaging, I felt like we could simplify the experience of opening presents. Gone was the stress of waiting for a toy to be 'undone', gone was the stress of undoing toys! Not to mention, the day-of mess is greatly reduced.

Isn't this so much more appealing?

Can't you just hear the angels singing: "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!!!"

And I'm relaxing, drinking coffee and playing with my kids on a big, clear space on the floor because all of this...

...went out in the trash and recycling on the third week of December!

Comments

[Cecilia Madden]

Sadness :(

I love the wrapping you do though. Such a great idea!