Wrapping Paper Shortage

Yesterday we received a box of Christmas gifts from a far away friend.  I love getting to extend the holidays into the New Year!  These presents had to travel partway across several continents as well as an ocean so I don't really count them as belated.  They seemed to have had quite the journey.  The box looked like it had participated in a game of rugby on the way here.  Thanks to superior packing skills, the gifts themselves arrived unscathed.  Yay!

The kids came home from school at different times and opened their presents separately.  Later, they were discussing their gifts when this apparently important question arose:

"What kind of wrapping paper did yours have?"  

"It was the same as yours.  They all had the same paper."  

"Oh." Heavy pause  "Maybe she was having a wrapping paper shortage."  My little guy sounded so sincere.  Empathetic.  You could hear a twinge of sadness in his voice.  It was as if he wanted to go out and buy rolls and rolls of gift wrap for our friend so she would never have to wrap two packages in the same paper ever again.

I had to sheepishly interrupt their conversation and admit to them that not everyone is oddly obsessed with wrapping gifts.  In general, folks don't feel the need adorn all their packages with sleigh bells and ornaments and cookie cutters and yarn and hand-cut tags and notes, and make sure that each one is unique and seriously spend way too much time wrapping gifts.  (You can see a few in this post where I was just getting started.  Don't judge.  Fine, judge.)  I never thought the kids noticed.  I assumed they were too busy ripping open their presents to take in the wrapping.

"Oh.  I thought that's how presents were supposed to be wrapped."  

 File this one under "Another way my mom caused me to have a skewed perception of the world."  

There are no rolls of wrapping paper pictured because we actually are having a wrapping paper shortage here.  Ah, the irony.

It's all Greek to him

"An owl?" bemoaned the boy infatuated with Greek gods.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, it's just that the owl is the symbol of Athena.  Couldn't you make it a flaming hammer instead?"

"No, I cannot top the tree with a flaming hammer."

"OK.  Well, what about a trident?" 

 

Finally, he was won over by the awesomeness that is the Folkmanis Snowy Owl hand puppet. 

Appropriately enough, he named her Athena. 

Fly, Athena, fly!!!!

No Charlie Brown tree for us

Our tree this year is ginormously fat.  At least for us it is.  It barely fits into our "Christmas tree spot" spot.

This year's weather in the great Christmas Tree Farming state of North Carolina has been ideal for tree growing.  That has led to an abundance of big FAT Fraiser firs.  No skinny happening here.  Get one of these babies and you might have to send your loved ones out on a "not so cold because it is NC" Winter's night to attempt to buy more strands of lights for the tree.  [Sorry. Thank you. At least it wasn't cold or rainy.  Right?]

Our tree is brushing the walls and still comes out 7 feet from the corner.  I measured it.  Then took a picture.  I realize that makes me a dork.

In case you had any doubt that I was talking about a real tree, here's the proof.  Yay!  Pine needles all over the carpet.  




 





We had to move a chair, the rug, and the coffee table.  It officially has its own room.

We get our tree from a small Christmas tree farm about 4 blocks away.  The folks there jack our kids up on hot chocolate, marshmallows and candy canes while we are preoccupied with choosing the perfect tree.  Then we pay 3x as much as we would have if we had gone to some kind of Super-Depot-Mart.  There are plenty of things I end up acquiring at a Super-Depot-Mart, I'd rather not buy my holiday cheer there as well.  Plus, if I had a Christmas tree farm and they didn't, I'd sure love it if they bought their tree from me.  But I don't, and they do, so see how that works out?

They have a sign as you leave telling you to have a TREEmendous holiday.  I think it is perfectly retro/cheesy.