I just noticed that there might be more than one way to wrap a holiday present. (I say this tongue-in-cheek, because of course there is!)

I have one adult kid who actually counts the boxes on the wrapping paper grid to ensure “just enough” paper is cut for a tidy, tight wrap.

The oldest will cut paper willy nilly, and often has to cut another piece to “fill the gap” when she can’t close the paper over the ends. (She’s also the one I have to remind to remove the price tag.)

You wouldn’t probably attach the gift wrap approach to the right kid. The willy nilly one–you would say it’s the kid who loves drama and music and loud colors. It’s not. The drama kid is the one counting boxes, wrapping to the grid.

The other one is less flashy, more into fitness and goals. Driven. Perhaps she doesn’t have enough energy to count the boxes. Perhaps she used all her measuring energy for other worries.

I don’t actually know what it is that drives us to wrap a gift. There are those who will throw something into a bag and call it a day. Others will make the loveliest, color-coordinated packages, no matter what’s in the box.

I recall sometimes wrapping presents in comic strips and paper bags, with hand drawn art and greetings on the outside. When I lived overseas, we simply brought the gift out and gave it to the person on the appropriate day. You couldn’t buy fancy wrap, and it was the gift that mattered, more than any external decoration.

I am somewhere in the middle, having wrapped with an eye for bling, and having not wrapped at all.

I now thoroughly enjoy it when I have others who are willing to wrap the gifts that I have selected. Phew. I can hand over the torch of present-wrapping. I’ve done it for years.

Time for the next generation to develop their own style to this tradition.

How do you approach your wrapping?

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