Saying Goodbye
It is done!
The Christmas tree is surrounded with wrapped presents. So many, in fact, that they have spilled out and have removed use of a fire exit. So, if our house is on fire, and we’re in the living room, and the front door is blocked by flames… we’ll have to stomp on the Christmas presents to get out. I think everyone would understand.
I got a bit bow-happy when I was wrapping. I really like sparkly presents. Mike makes fun of me. But I like putting a big bow… or three… on the present, and maybe wrapping several strands of ribbon around as well.
My first job was at Hallmark. It was a small family-owned store, really – it just so happened that they carried Hallmark stuff. I stocked shelves and did the register. Sometimes, though, I would get to wrap. I think I’ve always loved wrapping presents, but working at that store made it even better.
We had huge rolls of nearly every kind of paper mounted to the wall. Above them were the spools of ribbon and the tape dispenser. To the right of the counter was a selection of boxes. We wrapped presents as a convenience to the customers – no charge. So, when I was trained, the little old lady who owned the store gave me tips on how to conserve. Make sure to use the smallest possible box. Only overlap the paper by an inch. Any box smaller than a foot across can be wrapped with only two carefully placed pieces of tape. Larger boxes only required three. But for some reason, she let us use abundances of ribbon.
So the presents under my tree are wrapped in a variety of red, green, and blue papers, with ribbons and bows of every color of the rainbow. It’s a beautiful sight to behold. Or at least, I think so.
Last night, in the spirit of Diane is a Procrastinator, I finally finished (after having just previously finally started) the Christmas cards. I double-checked the addresses with our various mothers, and addressed them with my best handwriting (which is still chicken scratch – I can only hope they get where they’re going…). Due to my procrastination skills, however, yet another year has gone by where we didn’t send Christmas cards to friends. This will change for next year! I decree it! I will do my cards early! And maybe even print labels for the addresses… I really feel bad for the post office employees that have to read those…
This morning, with the sun still hovering behind the horizon, I walked out to my frost-bitten car. I lazily drove over to the big blue mailbox, popped Haley (my car) into neutral, and pulled the E-brake. I picked up my pile of 35 cards (not really that many, now that I think of it), and shivered as I walked over to the box. I opened the tray, put the cards in, and hovered there for a while, staring at the stickers I’d placed as seals on each envelope.
I always get nervous when I put large piles of envelopes in the mailbox. I think, “What if I mislabeled them?” and, “Did I forget a stamp?” and, “I’ll just double check them all.” I know that when I let go of the handle, the envelopes will fall into the pile below, never to be seen by me again (unless sent back to the return address due to the fact that the address was illegible…).
Eventually, though, I had to say goodbye, let go of the handle, and listen for the light sounds of the envelopes falling through to the bin below. I shivered back to my car, and got back on the road. The sun rose just as I was waiting at the light to turn left into the industrial park.