In a round about way, sort of? No- it won’t dispense the tape, or put a finger down to hold your paper in place, like a true friend would. Nor will it cut the wrapping paper in to appropriate sized rectangles. No, what it will do, is keep you at home, mere feet from your private restroom, and give you the time, inbetween bouts, to wrap your presents, whilst you listen to festive music. That’s about as helpful as it will ever get. On the plus side, nearly all our family gifts are now wrapped. On the downside, no concert, or family time at the Christmas Night Market in town last evening. Although, from what I hear I managed to avoid the kids having epic over stimulated melt downs out in public, so… we all had a bit of a shit time of it. Ha. With sweet moments mixed in.
Gauging just how many gifts I have for the whole family is a toss up until I actually set it all out in front of me after wrapping. Which reminds me I have stuff to send out still to family in the province. And I need to order stuff for my folks across the country. And I still have to go to the LCBO for the inlaws. So, while the immediate family is close to done. I do have two items coming via mail still left to show up, that will also need to be wrapped. But I’m not as close to done as I first thought. I did get my youngest niece and nephew done, wrapped, and delivered. So that’s a win. The excess birthdays this time of year means I thought I had more gifts for Christmas, but those go out the door for other kids, leaving a void. No matter. It will all come together eventually.
On the plus side I am way ahead of schedule for gift wrapping presents. I’m kind of proud about that. I usually hate wrapping gifts. But, because I was trapped at home, and needed to remain close to the facilities, i had nothing else i could do but wrap gifts. I could have read a book i suppose, but the gifts were the more pressing matter. Glad i got through it all in the 2.5 hours of time i had alone. If it doesn’t feel like you are giving up your time doing something else, it was not too awful to wrap presents all in one go. Loud festive music helped to keep me motivated. Well that, and frequent breaks to attend to ‘other’ things meant I didn’t wind up hunched over the bed for overly long stretches of time.
I won’t be putting anything under the tree for quite some time. I know these kids too well. The temptation of having to see gifts under the tree for 30 days before they can open them will drive them up the wall. So stashed in my room they shall stay until Christmas Eve. I know all of their sneaky tactics. The eye balling, the box press, the pick up n’ shake, the oops I tore open a corner, the trip and tear a whole panel. I’ve seen them all. I see the wheels turning. So it’s best for all involved if they remain out of sight for the time being. The tree looks good as is, so no need to further clutter up the room with temptations! We are down to the final thirty days before the big guy shows up. So Santa Claus is going to help parent for a spell. Santa, as we all know, makes credible threats, and provides stern warnings to children to behave as best they can, given the circumstances.
They are pretty good kids generally, they squabble a bit, but how many kids don’t? Seems pretty natural for them to do so. I could do with less of it, however, when they play nicely it can last for several hours, so that’s really lovely to see. I just need to keep in mind just how excited they are for Christmas under the surface. The addition of lights, and music, extra baking, movies, toy commercials, radio commercials, family visits, and events can really over stimulate kids that are so young. I try to remember that when things start to boil over, or either melt down in a fit of emotions, and visual over stimulation! It really is only one of two holidays that has such a massive build up. Between Halloween and Christmas no other yearly event sees so much pregame coverage. I’m not surprised that the kids all go mental this time of year. I’d be more surprised, if not worried about them if they didn’t, given the level of fuss nearly everyone puts into the Holiday Season.
Take care out there. I personally foresee a new refrigerator purchase in our near future, so there is always that to look forward to. I want to say that the fridge is atleast twelve years old now, or there abouts. So not great, but also not awful, as far as appliance longevity is concerned. Maybe a repairman could fix the moisture issue in the freezer section? I gotta look in to it further. Ciao Bella!
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