THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING!
Are you ready? Did that sentence cause your heart to race? What does your holiday season list look like? Let’s see! Does your list look like mine? Gift purchasing, in house decorating, outside house decorating, kid holiday party clothes purchasing (because nothing from last year fits), organizing the calendar and filling in parties, luncheons, programs, and other traditions, buying the white elephant gifts for your spouse’s and your office parties, class parties (because you can’t say no so you’re the class mom), decorating for the class parties, planning menus for all the parties, finding the decorations, getting the tree, lighting the tree, replacing the lights on the tree, moving the furniture so everything fits, getting rid of all the Amazon boxes and then WRAPPING THE PRESENTS!
THE SCHEDULE
The Annual Arts and Crafts show is the beginning of my Christmas shopping. It usually happens in September. I grab the kids, and we spend that glorious Saturday morning exploring hand made crafts and picking out presents for our extended family members. It’s a tradition we all enjoy. Throughout September and October, I buy the gifts and hide them in the file cabinet. (No, we aren’t going to talk about the “safe places that we forgot and found in April.”)
By November, I am mostly done. I have to be because my husband’s family lives overseas, and if I don’t get those gifts shipped by November 10, they may not make it on time.
WRAPPING THE PRESENTS
You either love it, or you hate it. You’re either good at it, or you aren’t. You either know where the scissors and tape are at all times, or you don’t. I don’t hate wrapping presents, but I’m not very good at it, and I can never find the tape or scissors. Enter, Mrs. Claus!
MRS. CLAUS PARTIES
A long time ago, I got an invitation from a dear friend for a Mrs. Claus Party. I had no idea what that was, but the invitation said, “Bring a bottle of wine, all your presents, and some tape. Let’s wrap!”
HOLY COW! A wrapping party? I wouldn’t have to do it by myself? And wine? Let’s do this!
Amy, the hostess, had purchased a TON of wrapping paper at the end of the holiday season the previous year for a song. Then she invited a bunch of her friends to her annual Mrs. Claus party. She provided delicious snacks, scissors, gift tags, ribbons, and bows.
We hauled in all our gifts, and we wrapped and drank and ate. We wrapped our gifts, and we helped each other. The people who were good at wrapping helped those of us who weren’t good at it. The ladies capable of beautifying everything effortlessly, flitted around making every package look professionally wrapped. Those of us who are geometry challenged got help wrapping oddly shaped items. It was a fantastic time of fun, fellowship, laughter, and sisterhood.
The next year, she got a job in France and left us here.
WHAT NOW?
Well, now I carry on the tradition. I hope you can too! Invite your gals over and consolidate all the paper, ribbons, scissors, gift tags, tissue paper, and bags and wrap and wrap and wrap! You’ll have a great time! And the chore of wrapping? It’s not so much of a burden with good friends and wine!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
