Wrapping

 I'm good at many things.  That's not a brag.  That's a fact.  I'm a good mother, wife and daughter.  I'm a pretty good cook.    I'd like to think I'm a good writer.  (I'd like to say great, but I'm not that pompous.)  Everyone is good at something.  Everyone is great at something.  (I'm not sure what my great is.)

On the flip side, everyone is lousy at something.  I am lousy at lot of things.  But the thing that I really stink at and becomes blatantly apparent every year at this time is wrapping.  I am a total loser when it comes to wrapping gifts.

I am in my 50s and I have NEVER been good at wrapping gifts.  I have tried many things.  I have tried high quality paper.  I have watched videos.  I have planned everything out.  I have taken my time.  NOTHING works for me.  I never cut the paper right. Even with "professional tools" my corners never fold properly.  Heck, my bows won't even stay on!  I have been trying for DECADES and not only do I still NOT get it right, but I never improve!

Because I stink so much at wrapping, I became thrilled with the advent of gift bags.  Why wrap when you can throw it in a bag with a little tissue paper.  But I stink at that too.  Ok, I am better with gift bags than I am with wrapping, but my bags never come out quite right either.  I never get the tissue paper ratio right; there's not enough or there's too much.  It doesn't fit in the bag correctly.

I honestly don't know why I even try.  I seriously thought about just leaving items in their shipping boxes (because this year most of my shopping has been done on line), but the holiday spirit got me again and I found myself down in the basement trying wrap Hanukkah and Christmas gifts.  (We celebrate a little of each holiday here.)  The paper I used for Hanukkah was pretty sturdy.  (If I recall it was expensive paper that I bought for some fundraiser.)  Although my wrapping job was not all that hot, at least the paper worked WITH me and not against me.

I used a different roll for Christmas.  I'm guessing I either got this roll (which was unopened until I tore it open...and I do mean tore!) at the thrift shop (which is a great place to buy holiday paper, cards, decorations, etc.) or at the dollar store.  Let me put it bluntly:  this paper was total and utter crap.  Even as I did my bad wrapping job, it started to rip.  (It was that thin and flimsy.)  I made sure that I cut off extra paper to try and make the wrapping "thicker."  It didn't work.  As I carried one wrapped package up the stairs (and doing so with the same amount of care I would have used on a new born baby), I could still feel the bottom portion start to tear.  URGH!  Since I'm such a bad wrapper, I just placed it under the tree and pray that it doesn't get touched before Christmas day.  If it rips more then...well who cares?

Maybe next year I'll just give up.  While it would be nice to have perfectly wrapped gifts under the tree, that's not going to happen.  It's the thought behind the gift that really counts, not the paper.  (At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself!)