Barbara J. Hamby

It’s in the Bag

A “professional gift wrapper” did a segment on a television news show today on wrapping gifts in boxes using fancy paper and ribbon as opposed to using decorative gift bags. She put down lazy people who “throw something into a bag.” Well, I’m one who appreciates getting stuff that’s been tossed in a bag. First of all, I can re-use the bag. Also, a lot of trees that weren’t cut down to make the boxes appreciate it, as do their admirers.

Actually, I really don’t want a lot more stuff in this lifetime, but if someone insists on giving me something I may or may not need, I hope they’ll not spend their valuable time and money trying to create a neat package, when a bag will do the trick.

As I do every year at this time, I really enjoy the holiday cards and letters, especially from relatives and old friends that I don’t hear from often. Email and Face Book keep me in contact with a good many friends and relatives, but not all. It’s really good to hear what the people I haven’t seen in a while have been up to.

Because I enjoy those letters, I still send one to some of my correspondents every year, but I usually start by saying “You’re free to read and/or toss this.” I know there are some people who hate the whole idea and they are entitled to that opinion.

One of my nieces sent me a thank you email today for the letter, which was really nice.

In today’s mail, Floyd received a Christmas gift from one of his sons that surprised us—a copy of Sarah Pahlin’s book, Going Rogue. I wasn’t going to buy it, but wait until it became available at a library. Now I’ll get a chance to read it. I am curious to see if I’m wrong to believe that lady is dangerous.