Oh please, get yo' minds out the gutters- this is a post about holiday presents!
It's funny, and I'm sure not a unique observation, but as I was wrapping "holiday" presents this evening, I found myself in a perpetual state of frustration. Partially because Mickey the Elf tried to eat half of what I was wrapping or rile up a good game of chase with my ball of ribbon or just flat out insert himself on top of my makeshift wrapping station, but mostly because I found that everything I was wrapping was so teeny tiny, that it was hard to wrap it. And I used to love wrapping presents, I always used to beg my mother to let me wrap all the presents, and would even get upset when she insisted on keeping the few designated for me all to herself to wrap. Don't worry, I always found her hiding spot.
But as I thought about the presents that I used to wait all year to be surrounded by for wrapping, they were big boxes. The inevitable sweaters that all of my brothers would get, or whatever set of glassware was deemed appropriate for my sisters-in-law, they were big boxes and I loved wrapping them and dressing them with bows and ribbons and name stickers, candy canes, bells, Snoopy stickers, bumper stickers, WHATEVER I could find...these fantastic beacons of gift giving were the best part. And then I got to thinking, I can't remember the last time that I wrapped a giant present, or received one. Howcome?
I think most of us (yes, even me, the half Jew) remember waking up on Christmas morning and running to see what was under the tree and darting immediately to the biggest, bestest box that couldn't even fit under the tree it was so huge. The box that could make me forget the monkey bread that mom got up early to make for Christmas morning, the one that little Ralphie just KNEW had his Red Rider Bee Bee gun. THE box. That was half the true Christmas prize. Regardless of what was actually inside, it just HAD to be cool. And bonus points if the box somehow managed to be bigger than the kid itself. But when I finished wrapping all of my presents and saw that the compilation of everything I purchased for everyone this holiday season would fit into one of the average size boxes under the trees of yore (the one that you knew had something lame like socks and school clothes), I had such a sense of let down. Really? This is what all of my hard earned cash got me? This tiny pile that's so small I can barely fit bows on them? You've got to be kidding me!
But as I thought about the convergence of getting older and the advanced technologies that many of us put on our holiday wish lists, it's now the small items that we tend to get more excited about. As girls get older, the smaller the box, the better. Because that most likely means that there's jewlery in there (Forgive the stereotype that had to be played upon here, but you get my drift). As boys get older, the smaller the box, the more technology that's jammed into some tiny shell. Atleast that's what I'm hoping Dad thinks when he gets his tiny wrapped box. But even my nieces and nephews that I have shopped for, everything is small- gift cards, video games, iPods. Most of the top gift lists reports this year contain iPad 2, iPhone 4, Kindle Fire, Nook, etc. I mean, I think even the box my Walkman came in back in the day was bigger than some of these. And I remember thinking I was hot stuff that it was bright yellow AND had AM/FM radio on it.
I guess all I meant to accomplish here was to remind everyone of the excitement of the giant box under the tree. It was a simple pleasure that I know I've lost. How easily we were impressed once upon a time. But this Christmas, so many are hoping for an iPhone with Siri that can look up our directions for us and give us our schedules so that we don't have to be bothered to do it ourselves. And they will be underwhelmed if their gifts do not have these capabilities. Maybe if we are lucky, the iPhone 5 will come with an app that will open our presents for us.
But I digress...Here's wishing you all a Merry, huge, giant box Christmas and an Happy all 8 lit candles Hannukah. May we all find joy in the simple pleasures of the holiday season.
Peace, Love, and Cookies
You could have not said it better. Ethan's best gift is a DS3. I thought to myself when he runs into the living room to look under the tree he will not be looking at alot of presents but alot of small boxes. I would have been pissed at his age but it will be his favorite of his 6 years.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Shaw