Holiday wrapping

Does this sound familiar? I spend actual time deciding what holiday wrapping paper to buy. I pick out bags of bows and different color ribbons to match the paper. Every year it seems so important while I am doing it in the store and about half way through wrapping gifts I realize 2 things: #1 - I now really hate the paper I've picked out and can't for the life of me see what I saw in it in the first place and #2- None of this from the picking out to the inevitable hating matters because it will all end up torn and wadded up in the trash anyway.

I used to wrap all of my stepfather's presents for my mother. When I came home from college for the holidays, I would lug my baggage up to the guest room and find a pile of lovely gifts in boxes and rolls of paper and tape near by. I would stay up late curling ribbons and creasing corners making pretty packages.

My brother used to pick one family member to buy a gift for. We never knew who it was going to be -I don't think he consciously planned it. He would spend some real money and end up getting the perfect thing for that lucky person: The thing you would secretly ask Santa for but never really hope for. That magic present would always come wrapped in the plastic bag from the store.

This year, my husband brought home 2 rolls of paper to do his own wrapping. He bought the exact same paper as the roll stashed in our closet from months ago. It is a superhero print so not exclusively holiday-esque but now it will be the dominant paper under our tree. Festive.

I have a friend who wraps all of the presents in her house - even those purchased for her. She says she doesn't peek. I believe her.

I guess I believe a lot of things about the holidays - even that the paper you pick does matter, even if only for a little while.