Why am I this way? I pondered that question, but not for long. My childhood feelings of guilt came flooding back. When I was just a little girl, my parents would sometimes go Christmas shopping with friends and leave my brother and me at home. He was seven years older and a teenager at the time. He usually didn’t pay too much attention to what I might be doing on his watch.
Being somewhat precocious, I could not stand the mystery of what might be in the wrapped presents already under the tree. So very carefully while my brother was preoccupied, I would cut the tape and slide the box out of the wrapping paper to reveal what might be hidden there. Then of course, carefully re-tape it and put it back where it had been.
Then there were the times when I would wonder what happened to all those packages that my parents brought home after they went shopping. Where did they put them? I was not often left alone back in those days as my mother was the typical stay-at-home mother only working on the farm when needed. However, I went on the hunt when I could discovering things tucked away in closets, under a bed and the most secretive place was a compartment in the bottom of a couch that made out into a bed.
Ah, yes and I remember the nights I was supposed to be upstairs sleeping. I wasn’t! My brother being older always got to stay up later. I could hear the rattle of wrapping paper in the dining room, because you see I was sitting on the last step by the landing on the stairway before you walked down the last six steps to the living room. I could never hear too much and I certainly wouldn’t dare peek around the corner, but I tried very hard to eavesdrop.
One year I think I found almost every surprise for Christmas and that was the year I learned the hard way. It was no fun knowing what I was getting for Christmas. From that day forward I have let everyone know that I do not want any hints although I have never told them why until now, not even my 92-year-old mother. I suppose after she reads this I will get coal in my stocking this year?
I love this time of year and decorating for the holidays. My most favorite thing to do other than decorate the house and tree is to wrap presents. I first learned how to wrap professionally when I worked at M.A.Clark’s Men’s Clothing Store when I was attending Ricker College.
Clarence Willette, a seasoned salesman had worked for Green’s prior to being employed by Mike Clark. So it was from him that I learned how to measure, not waste paper and to fold the edges just perfectly. Clarence and I would have a little competition to see who could wrap the gift the fastest! Of course, I wanted to be as good as he was.
Gift wrapping was a specialty at the popular men’s store and many people purchased items because they were wrapped with good quality paper and a nice gold cord or ribbon and there was no charge.
More recently I wrapped more gifts when I worked during the holiday season at Marie Hutchinson’s Heart to Heart Gift Shop. This gift shop was known for its beautiful wrappings as well, with gorgeous bows made from satin ribbon. One never had to guess where the gift was purchased, the wrapping said it all.
Today my bows aren’t quite as elaborate — but every gift has a ribbon tied in a bow. No stick ons in this house!
The tradition of wrapping gifts began many years ago in China and moved on to Britain where the British used wall paper to wrap gifts, but it was thick and tore easily revealing the contents of the gift. According to the Hallmark website, gift wrapping finally reached America in the early 1900s. Joyce Clyde Hall and his brother Rollie invented modern gift wrap in their Kansas City, Missouri store. When they ran out of their solid-colored gift dressing during the peak of the Christmas season, they began substituting the thicker French envelope liners for wrapping. They sold so well they began printing their own. Previous to this they sold white, red and green tissue and one holly pattern for gift wrapping.
Today we know these brothers through the well-known Hallmark Shops.
Another major development came some 20 years later with the invention of Scotch tape. Prior to this, gifts were wrapped using string, lace, twine and rope to hold them together. I am thinking it would have been much easier for me to unwrap those gifts back in the day if it were prior to the invention of Scotch tape. M-m-m just a thought.
So I hope that you will find a few surprises under the Christmas tree this year. I know I will be surprised with most of mine.
