Bah! Humbug!

well, not really.

I visited the Cathedral Christmas Market this morning – which seemed to be bigger than ever. There was no-one on the aquaplaning – er – skating rink, but the stalls were quite busy for a wet Monday morning. I could have spent a fortune – but I limited myself to a secret present which will not be revealed here – and this little lady. And although she is only about 10 cm high she has another 4 dollies inside her.

When I got home I decided it was time to wrap presents. Which I hate. Although we have quite a short Christmas present list, there are a few other important dates in December. Like birthdays [3] and anniversaries [1].

I am not a skillful wrapper-upper – unlike my brother, who wraps with mathematical precision in Extremely Good Taste. These days we send him and his wife goats – or midwives – or last year, a toilet. Which are, perhaps surprisingly, much easier to wrap, and simpler to post [they live in NYC]. [I have a sudden mental image of several goats coming down the steps from their brownstone and grazing in Washington Park …]

If you want to know what I’m wittering about, – Oxfam Unwrapped. Strongly recommended if you have people you don’t want to wrap presents for, or you've given up trying to find things in Extremely Good Taste, and got bored with sending things in Extremely Bad Taste to be annoying.

But I digress. Despite the shortness of my present list it took me all afternoon. I have invested in technology – a little cutter thing which looks like a bristleless toothbrush and some expensive sort-of-circles-of-Sellotape which I thought would be easier than wresting with a roll.

When the cutter works, it works well – I could cut almost straight lines quite quickly. But it was temperamental about the sort of paper it liked and when it didn’t like the paper it sulked and tore it.

And the sticky circles were transparent, on a transparent backing, so it was difficult to tell which side was which – or even if there was one there at all. I needed both hands to persuade the circle to separate from its backing, by which time the paper had unwrapped itself and I had to start again. But it was still easier than a roll of Sellotape.

So, a couple of hours and a couple of cups of tea later, all is done – apart from the letter to my brother and SIL to go in with the goats – except that this year it is ‘care for a vulnerable child’.

I did get my priorities right though – average number of presents per adult on my list – 1. Average number of presents per 2 year old on my list – 6. Spoilt rotten? Babybel? Never.

Here is some playing with paper I feel more confident about. Square Kandinsky circles from torn paper – and circular Kandinsky circles made from the insides of envelopes. The tutor was a bit lukewarm about that one, but I still like it.