Save Those Boxes

Do you save your bows and bags from all those pretty Christmas packages?  I do and I make no bones about it.  The family has even stopped asking me if I want to save them anymore.  In fact, they saved so much that today I had to sort and purge before putting it all away.   

 

The boxes...........how can I throw those away?  See that tie box?  They are hard to come by.  Never mind that I haven't wrapped a tie separately from the shirt in years, but you never know.  Back in my early married life, ties were a huge part of Christmas for me as it was for most people.  Everybody wore a tie and it was a fun quest to find the perfect one for the hubby.  It always looked like he got more presents if every little thing was wrapped individually.  I still practice that!  Lots of gifts probably stems from my childhood, back when our presents were piled high, however, never wrapped.  Can you imagine wrapping all those presents for five little ones?  Even without wrapping paper, the presents always looked magnificent under the tree in the soft early light and the glow of the colored lights from the tree. 

Once I was making money of my own, wrapping became important, but money was still tight.  Mom saved bows so why not me?  Remember the pretty red and green printed paper.  It was usually pretty flimsy and tore easily.  If you bought your presents at some major department stores, they would wrap for you...for free.  Anthony's in Midwest City was one of those stores, but you would have to leave them for sometimes hours.  It was a small price to pay.  They were always wrapped much prettier than I could, but they never used the beautiful shiny paper that a store like Dillard's did.

Money was a little easier to come by in the 80s and 90s and once in a while I could buy a gift from Dillard's.  Although their wrapping was beautiful, it was pricey, but I could splurge once in a while.  Today I ran across one of the little gold ornaments that was attached to the bow of a leather coat I had wrapped for the hubby many years ago.

By the turn of the century, decorative bags came into vogue.  Wrapping became a thing of the past, tall bags standing there in their glory with the gift hidden deep and disguised with the tissue paper overflowing the top...just like troll dolls. 

Still, even if the bags are easier, I still prefer to wrap a present.  It is very, very hard for me to throw away all those useful boxes, bows, and really anything that could be used in gifting for the next Christmas.  There might be a need for that heavy duty Philosophy gift set box next year.  There wasn't a need for it this year, but I need to save it one more year before actually discarding it.  And wouldn't that box make a beautifully wrapped present with its stiff rigid sides?

Sorting and culling all this stash was a pleasant pastime for me this morning.  I found all sorts of useful things that I had forgotten about; the little leopard box with the cute little black tasseled string, the old Christmas sack from Crabtree & Evelyn, the beautiful glittered Christmas bag with snowy winter scene on it that I will not let anybody use.  Almost everything I pulled out today had a special meaning.  Some of the tie-ons are many years old now and although they will not mean a thing to anybody including my own children, I get a kick out of reliving a moment just as I did today. 

So the next time you see a dusty old box of Christmas junk at an estate sale.....remember that those little useless items once had a memory for someone... And kids if I ask you to save a bag or a bow, it might be a little memory that I am saving or you could just think I am just cheap.  I can live with that, too.

I love you all.