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I like to wrap my presents with one roll dedicated to someone. I don't have to use name tags unless we're taking it somewhere where it'll be mixed with a bunch of other people's presents and it's pretty easy. I went to wrap my mom's presents and didn't realize that while Home Goods does have pretty paper for cheap, it's also because they don't give you that much. I wrapped all of her presents in one paper last year and didn't have a duplicate roll for this year. Since they don't carry the same paper year to year, I knew I'd have to go to another roll. (There's my consumer tip for you Home Goods shoppers, if you like a wrapping paper there, get it ALL, you will likely never see it again, especially seasonal.) So I went to another roll, same thing. Another roll, same thing. My mom's gifts are a Type A's worst nightmare.
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| (FIVE different wrapping papers for one person.) |
Inside I know once those are under the tree, I will probably put a blanket on them to hide it so I'm not tempted to go out and buy a big roll and re-wrap. I'm mulling over buying some kraft paper both plain and printed for next year and doing the whole "brown paper packages tied up with strings" thing.
Then I went to pull out the Christmas cards for this year since I always buy at the end of the previous year for the following year on sale. Nothing. I vaguely remember shopping for them at Hallmark and being utterly disappointed and World Market was cleaned out so I didn't buy any. I pulled out three boxes from the armoire that had a mish-mash of leftovers from years past. Some really good ones, others middle of the lines and some that were "oh crap, I ran out of good cards and got one from these people...run to the drugstore." I counted how many I had and sadly I have two fewer people to send to this year so I think I have enough to cover.
I like to have everyone getting the same cards but I am not paying full price to go out and buy matching ones when I have a perfect amount of mix and match at my disposal this year. No one is going around comparing Christmas cards from me and if they are, they're @ssholes.
I am focusing my attention on other things that matter to me more right now than being obsessed if everything is all nicey-nicey to standards only I give a crap about. I'll keep my eye out for deals on cards since I won't have that luxury next year. I'll pick up wrapping paper as I see it since it's my FAVORITE thing-- for real- it's an addiction. I even have the Mr wrap my birthday gifts in Christmas paper. I know I'm at the end of one Snoopy roll so the next two will take up the slack next year. It's so funny because I have this one mondo roll of red paper with little snowmen all over it that has wrapped my grandpa's wife's gifts for 8 years now. It's like Aggie's bag in Halloweentown... neverending.
Look, I don't expect people to get it. This isn't a big deal to most people but it's a control thing. I like things a certain way and I do have control over this but I'm just not up for it this year. That's kind of a big deal. That doesn't mean it'll be this way every year because I'm not a fan but this year I'm choosing not to let it be a thing that everything isn't the way I usually like it.
What are you embracing going into the holiday season?
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Totally get it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, using up the mishmash one year to clean out would win here too.
I wrap each person in one paper too. But each year is stand alone. Paper does not stick to the same person year to year. I coordinate years.
I have eliminated holiday specific paper for everything but xmas.
So birthdays, weddings, showers, etc. I have stash of dots and stripes and checks and solids. I absolutely keep plain brown because it can be fabulous.
My xmas paper comes from Hobby Lobby always. Gridded on the back. Big rolls. Heavy paper. I never pay full price. It is on sale regularly. There is always a 40% coupon.
I cleaned out the gift bags and odds and ends of roll ends and old flat paper last week. Some went to autism clinic and some went to neighbors. That felt great.
Working on cleaning out arts and crafts this week.
I'm actually quite proud of you for letting go of some of that this year so you can just focus on enjoying the season without as much of the pressure. Let the mish mash set you free!
ReplyDeleteThis has been a year (or summer anyway) of decluttering for you. If you can look at this as one more step in that process instead of as not living up to your standards maybe that would help? You are still controlling the situtation, you are just choosing to handle it in a different way than usual. I know you'd never throw away Christmas paper or cards, so this way those things get used, they bring joy to someone else, and you now have more space to buy new. I think the brown paper is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm a hodge-podge person myself. (big surprise right?) I have lots of partial rolls so this year is going to be about trying to use up as much of it as I can.
I'm not really embracing anything. I'm not a huge holiday person anyway, and this year I'm kinda mad that it's already mid-November. Sometime after Thanksgiving I'll put up the tree, hopefully it won't be 70 degrees again that day like it was last year. The one thing I'm really looking forward to (aside from family time of course) is the annual tradition of getting movie theatre popcorn to go and then driving around town to look at Christmas lights.
I like that! I ended up finding one more box of half used cards when I cleaned out the armoire last night so I have all "top of the line" cards which I feel better about. I knew there would come a year when I'd reach the end of the roll on some but dang it happened on 5 rolls! But it is good to get some of them out of the house. Thanks for the adjusted perspective!
DeleteI flip flop on whether I use all one paper for each person, or if I mix it up. Sometimes it depends on the pattern I have...if the design is really big and I'm wrapping something really small, sometimes I'll use different paper. I have a good three rolls of Christmas paper that is the brown craft paper with "woodsy" designs that I love using because it's think and doesn't tear. I, too, like the paper with the grids on the back, but I'm not sure how much of that I have.
ReplyDeleteRight now I feel pressure to get things done in the next three weeks, so I haven't embraced the holidays yet. It's self-induced pressure that's really just about my mindset, so I'm trying to let go of some of that to minimize my stress. So far, it's about 40/60, with stress winning. LOL
Preschools and autism clinics use a lot of paper for art projects. I give them wrapping paper, cards, seed catalogs, etc. I just cleaned out scrapbook and construction paper and donated too.
ReplyDelete