Monday, January 11, 2010

Christmas Gift Wrapping

Here it is at long last... the saga of our annual gift wrapping contest. This is going to take awhile so grab a cup of coffee or tea or something stronger... wine perhaps... settle back and enjoy.

Okay this first one may seem a little strange for a Christmas gift. It is a gift for Sarah from her cousin Nick, they both have, oh I don't know, how shall I explain it... rather quirky senses of humor. The wrapping is based on a short story "The Gift" by Lou Reed. Google it and you will see what I mean. You googled it ... right? not exactly what you'd expect for Christmas huh? Told you they are weird, they take after hubby's side of the family.

All is not lost, the crate was filled with craft supplies which made Sarah very happy.

More in the spirit of Christmas, Amanda wrapped her gift as a Treasure Chest and filled it with artistic treasures she made herself. Uncle Brad was thrilled and Grandma was envious.



The Eric PEZ (last years winner) was put to good use by me again this year. Eric collects PEZ so the Eric PEZ was given a hat and scarf and filled with collectible PEZ. See that poor pathetic package sitting next to the Eric PEZ... that was Roger's entry this year. In fairness to Roger he has been working a lot of over time, his mother is ill and he thought he had more time to wrap his gift. The Eric PEZ reminds you what a good job he did last year. He'll make a come back next year.


Benjamin had Brandon's name so he wrapped his gift to resemble an Xbox. It was filled with collectible comic books ( I know they are called "graphic novels" but they look like comic books to me) and two really cool Tee shirts he printed himself. Benjamin has a TeeShirt printing business.

Brad went the more traditional route. His gift was a small tree all decked out in flowers, ornaments and lights that he found at Mom's house. The gifts for Andrea are at the bottom of the tree wrapped in paper and ribbons that he also found at Mom's house. Zachery had my name. He wrapped his gift as a Santa bag inside a chimney. Inside the bag is a wonderful Jim Shore Santa. I collect Santas and Jim Shore figures so it was the perfect gift.
Andrea gave Pathena (my not-Heather daughter) a set of stainless steel mixing bowls cleverly wrapped as a Christmas tree. First she individual wrapped the bowls is shiny green paper then assembled them in the shape of tree, added big stars and lights and a cool ornament at the top. How's that for a neat idea?
Cory and Eugene went together on their gift for Heather (my not-Pathena daughter) and Roger. They gave them a gift certificate to a Bed and Breakfast so they wrapped their gift as Breakfast in Bed. Check out the bacon and eggs, they look good enough to eat.
Okay I wrapped this one.. although technically the gift was from hubby for grandson-in-law Brandon (we have two Brandon's, grandson Brandon and this one who is married to granddaughter Sarah and is the father of sweet little Lily) His gift is a ukulele. At first I was going to wrap it as a gingerbread man then grandson Brandon suggested a hula girl...because of the ukulele. Okay, I thought, I can do that. I made polymer clay coconuts for her bra and had this neat shredded box for a skirt.... then her top was giving me trouble, the coconuts weren't working so I switched to a gypsy hence the scarves and jewelry which kinda transformed her into a cross between a gypsy and a hippie. As usual the family thought her a little strange....maybe "they" don't take after hubby's side of the family after all.
This pretty wrapped table is a gift for Benjamin from Lily's dad (easier than explaining it's from grandson-in-law Brandon rather than grandson Brandon). Benjamin is a Cardinals fan so his gift was a Cardinal's lamp and Cardinal's clock.
Grandson Brandon drew his granddads name. Granddad is a pharmacist so Brandon, along with his best friend also named Brandon (we are over run with Brandons), created a giant pill bottle and filled it with gift capsules. All my grandkids are talented.
Daughter Pathena... also called Patty.. drew Nicks name. Nick likes to make films so his package was wrapped as a projector and contained a fancy pair of pants for bicycling which he also like to do.

Heather's gift was for Eugene. Eugene is a big rock and roll fan, especially loves the Beatles so Heather wrapped his gift as a guitar adorned with big lips. She got him a "bunch of Rolling Stones stuff, that's why it's a Rolling Stones guitar". ( I couldn't remember what she got him so when I asked her that is what she said)This was one of my favorite gifts. Eric, with help from Brad, wrapped it for Amanda. He recreated a giant Lindor Truffles bag (see the real bag of Lindor Truffles sitting next to it) filled with individually wrapped truffles. Each truffle contained a hand made ceramic mug.
You still haven't seen the winning package... that's a whole story in itself and will be revealed
tomorrow. Oh come on, you knew I couldn't do this all in one day. I can feel the excitement building, can't you?

5 comments:

  1. too fun!! and the lindor commercial came on as I was reading about the ginormous lindor bag. can't wait for tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You have some seriously talented people in your family. What great fun and a fabulous idea.

    thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Kathi, The ginormous Lindor bag was a big hit.... say... maybe it would make a good commercial? LOL

    Three cheers Alice, you were finally able to post on my blog!! That makes me happy. Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have the most talented family. I like all of them but so far my favorite is the prescription bottle/capsules for granddad. The Lindor Truffles are seriously special, too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you Jackie. Brandon was pretty proud of his prescription bottle, he had it planned for weeks.needless to say Granddad was impressed.

    The Lindor Truffles was so realistic, definitely a contender... but , what's that saying.... "if it bleeds it leads" How true!!

    ReplyDelete