Wrapping up

I have never wrapped more presents at any other time than in the last two years. Since my son joined nursery school two years ago, there has been an endless request for presents. Since the circle of friends grew larger to include their children and babies, there has been an endless flow of presents. Since my children discovered Christmas, there has been an urgent request for presents. Presents for the newborn. Presents for the one-year old. Presents for the returning child of the returning family we haven’t seen in so many years. Presents for the twenty classmates whose parents think a party at school is better (for them) than a party at home. A present from ‘Santa” for the school Christmas party. Presents for cousins’ birthdays.
I have used wrapping paper, decorative bags, colourful tissue paper, coloured bond paper, plain bond paper with ‘creative scribbles’ done by baby and brother to look arty, brown paper and even kitchen foil! Yes, kitchen foil when the wrapping paper became a toy, was scrunched up and rendered unusable.
Gone are the days when a present is a well-timed thought, presented artfully in romantic moments. Gone are the days when presents are surprises to your husband, just because he’s been eyeing something for such a long time.
My heart sank this Christmas when, after presenting my four-year-old son with the gift he’d been whining about since he learned Santa was coming to his school and then his house (!!), he ripped the wrapping paper to shreds to get to the Transformer inside. Should I spend many more years wrapping presents? They just want to get to the good stuff, anyway.