Gift Wrapped

See this lady? She is not me! When I get done wrapping gifts (as I have been forced to do with the impending Christmas season), I am neither smiling, or holding a package that looks like that. I HATE wrapping gifts. I have no talent for it. With children in the house, I have been able to let people assume that they are the ones who actually did the wrapping. When I get comments like, "Oh- how sweet. Lily must have wrapped the gifts this year!", I just smile and nod.

I hate it so much that I often times will purchase gifts that don't NEED to be wrapped. Gift certificates and money can be easily slid into cards. The invention of gift bags was like a light at the end of the tunnel for me. I can go to the dollar store and purchase a variety of sizes to hold the booty I am wanting to distribute. After awhile and a few large gift giving occasions, you can stockpile a closet full of them and use them again. I love it!

Since I procrastinate the gift wrapping debacle as long as possible, some of my friends have shown up to exchange gifts BEFORE I've had a chance to cocoon them in yards of hastily cut Christmas paper. They have left my house with their naked gift in tow. I make my apologies, but the embarrassment isn't greater than handing over something it looks like the dog chewed on....so I figure I'm about even.

For almost 10 years I was in the direct sales business and our core product was baskets. This too afforded me the ability to avoid wrapping gifts. My disdain for all things paper and tape made for a great sales pitch, and the Christmas season was especially great for my business. I found many like-minded individuals who understood my rationale that if you put the gift in a basket with a wad of fluffed up tissue paper it was not only a very ATTRACTIVE gift, but then the basket was part of the gift and you weren't wasting a lot of money on boxes and wrapping paper and stuff. I actually think my family was a little disappointed when I gave up that career. I know my customers were, and now they are all running to the Dollar Store snatching up gift bags in a frenzy, attempting to build a stockpile in their closets.

As I reflect on my horribly mangled-looking packages crammed under the tree this Christmas, I think of how it is a good thing my gifts are not judged by their outward appearance. The things I bought and are giving to my friends and family were well thought out and given with love, but if they look at that mess of shredded paper and huge wads of tape, they may wonder what is inside, and if it worth the extrication process. It is!

Hidden within the confines of festive paper and badly tied ribbon is love. No matter what our outward appearance. a treasure lies within us, just waiting to be unwrapped. Some of us have an abundance of padding, some may have things poking out in places where it doesn't seem like the seams meet, but when you peel it all back, underneath you will find the most inspired and divine things. Never underestimate the content based on the shell. Thank goodness God breathlessly anticipates the gift instead of turning up his nose at the wrapping.