Preparing for Christmas this year has been quite different than the past few years. We are now a household with 4 people living off of just one income. This is quite a jump from last year being a family of 3, living off of double what we are now. So, we cut corners whenever possible. Or, at least we try. Every other year a portion of the money spent on Christmas gifts goes towards wrapping paper. I get my love for making gifts look pretty from my Aunt Marilyn and my Mother. These ladies go ALL OUT when it comes to wrapping gifts. My Aunt, the interior designer, usually color coordinates her wrapping paper and Christmas tree decorations for the year. And I’m pretty sure she has this all planned and figured out before Christmastime has even started. I love it.

For our gift wrapping this year, we didn’t spend a dime. Well, the materials I used weren’t free and didn’t appear out of thin air, but I didn’t buy them for the purpose of gift wrapping. I used old pattern paper that John got for me at a garage sale. This is the best thing I could have done with them, because I can’t figure out how to use them properly. Or, maybe I just don’t want to learn how. I really dislike spending more than a minute to read directions and I enjoy making my own patterns. I’m probably going about things the hard way, but that’s how I do things, I guess. I remember my Algebra teacher in high school said he couldn’t figure out the process I used to get my answers, but that I should keep doing whatever it was I was doing because I was getting the right answers. Anyway, I also used some yarn I had sitting around for making the gifts look not so boring in their simple brown paper. The gifts that required bags were put into bags that I have been saving over the years from various celebrations–birthdays, baby showers, Christmas, etc. A few of the bags needed tags, so I used Jackson’s fancy scissors to cut out squares from some cardboard we had laying around. Then I attached the tags with safety pins. I’m not convinced that these are the most beautifully wrapped gifts, but they will do.

So, here you have it! Almost all of our gifts are wrapped. Of course, the presents for Jackson and Archer aren’t even here because Santa has not arrived with them yet. (Or, they could still be hiding under a blanket in the crib that NO ONE uses for sleeping.)