The tags were one of the things on my Christmas list of things to do, and of course, they are taking much longer than I expected. Isn't that the way it always goes? They are also keeping me from getting the dining room table cleaned off and the tablecloth changed. There are fifteen more things crossed out on my list though, so I don't feel too bad about that. They are also required in order to complete the sending of gifts to out of town friends and family. I wrap the gifts I send too, because I do such a cute job of things that I really mustn't exclude those who aren't fortunate enough to live in this city.

Last year, I did the whole blue and silver theme with snowflakes. I got all coordinating holographic foiled wrapping paper and used the wired star garland in silver and iridescent white as ribbon. I wrapped that around the gifts and curled the ends on top, embellishing it with curling ribbon in blue or silver. I topped it off using large, glittery snowflake ornaments as bows and white or silver snowflake ornaments as tags with names written on them in blue. There were just a few presents done in the same manner in gold to keep things organized, but mostly it was all blue and silver. I was immensely proud of myself, because I didn't get any of these ideas out of a book or magazine, even though none of the ideas is truly unique. I just shopped around and bought stuff I thought looked good. The packages were a huge hit, and everyone kept their ribbons and bows. Some people didn't even want to unwrap the gifts. I took a picture of most of them under the tree to remember how over-the-top the whole thing was.

I suspect there are going to be quite a few copycats this year, so I had to do something entirely different. Sure, mimicry is the ultimate flattery, but it's not so great when you're the one being mimicked, at least not for me. I've been burned a couple times by this type of flattery, so I now choose to keep forging ahead rather than staying in one place, lest I find myself ambushed again.

Since last year was glitzy and beautiful, this year is going to be plain and simple. I was thinking about stamping my own wrap on brown craft paper for several months. But when I saw the gingerbread man cards in Family Fun magazine (I won't be able to claim originality this year), I decided not to even bother stamping the paper and leaving it plain or only putting a few small, red dots on it. I'm using jute (twine) for ribbon, so they will look like old-fashioned packages. I keep thinking they might need something more, but I'll see once I actually wrap something before I decide that. I have a ka-jillion buttons, so I might use those if something else is needed.

This theme will match my tree and house d�cor better than last year, since I have somewhat of a country/simple thing going. It's not your cutesy country, but what I think of as true country. I'm only one generation from farm living, so I am pretty familiar with what real country is. I'm not perfect in keeping everything the same, but I think I do okay in making sure I don't have a major clash. But if I do, like the fancy blue/silver thing I had going last year underneath a country tree, I don't care either. They are things I like.

My tastes are varied, so my stuff is too. Martha would be appalled, but she's not coming to my house for Christmas this year, and even if she were, I wouldn't change. She would probably tell me to do different themes in different rooms, so I could do everything I wanted and still have consistency. And that's a perfectly good idea, except I don't have endless resources with which to decorate all the rooms of my house, so I settle for the mishmash of designs that I call Christmas. With all the complements I get for what I do, I think I do a damn good job too.

---------------------------------------------

One Year Ago Today:

< previous | next >