For the first time ever, a few days before Christmas, I will see both of my granddaughters in person. This called for wrapped presents. Gathering paper, tape and scissors brought memories of my mother. She moved to Nashville, TN, to be with my father who was in the Navy during WWII. To keep herself busy she got a job at the Hotel Peabody wrapping presents. This job training carried over into our family’s experience of Christmas.
Mom always had a ruler or yardstick handy when we sat down to wrap presents. She showed me how to rotate the box you were wrapping over the paper four times so you would know how much paper to tear off, using the edge of the yardstick for a quick, clean edge. I learned that perfectly folded creased corners were possible when you measured carefully. This extra step ensured that you would never end up with too much paper. Excess meant bulky corners that required extra tape. Though she never explained the why, I noticed Mom approved of my efforts more the less scotch tape you could see.
Preparing to wrap my granddaughters’ presents, I rustled through the basket of used wrapping paper and gift bags to see what I could find. Reusing wrapping paper is another tradition I inherited from mom. It was understood by all of us that carefully unwrapping gifts was nearly as important as carefully wrapping them.
I didn’t find enough to wrap the boxes I had prepared previously for the gifts, so I ditched them and chose two gift bags, lining them with red tissue paper. There were two small items for each granddaughter and as I started wrapping, I heard an inner voice: “Where’s your ruler?” I brushed it off. This voice was undoubtedly trying to help, but I was not going to take time to fetch a ruler. Eyeballing the amount of paper meant I ended up with more paper than I needed. Predictably, when I folded the corners, the tape bunched up around the bulky edges. The voice returned, now more critical: “That doesn’t look very professional. So careless.”
Luckily, I was really having a good time imagining my granddaughters opening their gifts and their grins when they read the joy they each brought me. Soon I was hearing a different voice. This one calm and kind: “It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
As I finished up, I thought how important it had been to mom that packages coming from our home looked a certain way. I think it gave her joy to teach us the skill of precision when it came to gift wrapping. I wrapped presents this exacting way for many years thinking how proud she would be of me. The last few years I have noticed that I no longer find much joy in being so careful. There is usually another project that needs my attention. I find joy when the presents are wrapped as carefully as time allows and then getting back to my writing. I think mom would approve.
IMAGE: Top of my desk. Almost cut out lamp but left it in as I’m missing it fiercely. It’s been at the repair shop for 3 weeks. Word is it might be fixed next week. Here’s hoping. I’m just glad the sun is shining this morning so I can see.
IMAGE
