Wrapping Paper Fun

by Tara Temple
(Gainesville, FL, USA)

Our family wrapping paper extravaganza!

Growing up, wrapping paper was the key factor in our Christmas morning celebration.

First, was "ha ha, I got you!" wrapping paper--its job was to prevent us kids from peeking at our presents before our parents were up to capture the moment on video camera. "Santa" would place wrapping paper on our bedroom doors while we were sleeping, so that when we would open the door to "see what santa brought", we were trapped. And then, we'd laugh and yell and scream for our parents, and they would capture our breakthrough on camera.

Then, we'd settle down to go through our stockings. Again, wrapping paper came into play. In addition to our presents from mom and dad, we'd each receive 5 presents from Santa. The presents did not have name tags on them. As we'd go through our stockings, we'd rip them apart looking for our "Santa wrapper" to match our group of Santa presents.

After enjoying our presents, as always, there was plenty of wrapping paper covering the living room floor. Instead of just cleaning up the normal way, my parents made it into a game. They would hide three trash bags throughout the livingroom, and attach a Christmas card with our name on it to each bag. Once all presents were opened, my mother would yell "ready.....set....GO!" and we'd scramble around the house looking for our individual trash bags. Then, we'd come back and try to fill our trash bags as much as we could. Once all of the wrapping paper was picked up, whomever had the most filled trash bag would win.

The prize was called "secret santa" because it was a small wrapped present hidden in the way back under the tree. The winner would climb under the tree and get to open and keep the present.

I'll never forget that tradition for as long as I live. Who knew wrapping paper could be as much fun as the presents themselves? :)