I was never one to do designer gift wrapping. Usually the size of the gift dictated how it was to be wrapped.  Somehow when I shopped I never thought much about wrapping it. I was more concerned the gift would be special for the person who was to receive it.

My first job was as the gift wrap person in a family – owned department store in my hometown.  Once I turned 16 I was bound and determined to get a job there so I was pleased to get the call to begin work the day after Thanksgiving. Those were the days when businesses ran the Christmas season from just after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. Oh, for the good old days!

I had to make all of the bows by hand.  Another lady taught me the way that the store insisted that they be made.  I rolled ribbon around my fingers, cut two “v”s in the center and tied a ribbon around the middle.  They stayed that way until it was time to use them.  When I needed them I pulled out the pieces of ribbon to create a frilly bow.

When people came to the gift wrap station they chose the paper and the ribbon. No matter what I thought about their choices I kept still and wrapped the gifts.

I spent about three years working in that store before I applied to work in another one.  I changed because the other one was closer to the college that I attended.  I could finish my classes and still get to work on time.  This store was also open more hours so there were more opportunities for work.  Working in retail was enough to keep me in college though since I knew that I did not want to do that my whole life.

Early in my married life my grandparents were still around. I had grown up living in their home so we were exceptionally close. There was little that they needed so I made up my mind to share my Christmas cookies with them.  I started baking right after Thanksgiving baking one kind of cookie each week. When my mother came to visit I sent a plastic container filled with cookies to grandma and grandpa.  Most of my cookie recipes came from her so they had their old favorites. The only kind of cookie that I never mastered was her chocolate pinwheels. My wheels always separated and the chocolate portion was tough.  Maybe I worked the dough too much I am just not sure.

When we were first married money was very tight.  I did everything I could to save money. I shopped the after Christmas sales to get the gift wrap for the next year. There were more than a dozen extended family members so I had a lot of gifts to purchase and wrap. Sometimes the gifts were homemade. I had a lot more time to work on gifts than I had money to buy them.

Another year I found a real bargain. At a discount store that I frequented I found a bolt of cloth/paper that was half red and half green. Scotch tape would not work on this so I used straight pins to hold the wrapping until I got some red and green yarn wrapped around each gift to hold it closed. Once we opened the gifts I collected the cloth/paper to be used another year. We recycled that stuff for years.

My mother bought us a little box of candy one year that came in a really pretty box. I remember that box being recycled year after year among the family members. It was a mystery as to who was going to get that box each year.

A few years ago I had a black bag Christmas. All of the things that I bought that year were hard to wrap — they were such odd shapes.  I finally settled on the black bag theme. So that the gifts looked festive I bought large bows and made my own gift tags out of old Christmas cards. No one minded a bit. The other plus was that everyone had a big bag to put all the rest of their gifts in to take home.

Now we have scaled back our gift giving so wrapping is not as difficult as it used to be. We each have one family member’s name that we have to come up with three gifts for. This year we have to find something to wear, something the person likes to eat, and a gift of choice.  One year we used the category of something second-hand. It was really fun to see what people found. I received a beautiful old picture frame. That year we took a family photo that I enlarged to fit my new frame.

Gift bags were not as popular years ago in fact I do not even remember them. Now, they are so easy. You just slip your gift in, put some tissue paper on top, and you are done. If gift bags had been in vogue years ago I probably would never have had a job as a gift wrapper. I might never have worked in that delightful family department store. Who knows what my life would have turned out like?

However you choose to wrap your gifts this year remember it is not the packaging that counts. It is not really the gift either.  It is the fact that you take time to be with family.

On a recent shopping trip to Erie I happened to be behind a lady who was really having a good time shopping.  She told the cashier she did not get out often. She paid for her purchase in cash. She commented that Social Security was good to her.  She had enough money to do what she wanted to do. Her happiness was infectious. I told her to have a good day, then, I wished her Merry Christmas. How refreshing to find someone who really reflected the true meaning of Christmas.  She was blessed to be able to give.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa.  Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net