'Doing Up Presents!'

I spent a good few hours the other afternoon doing up the first wave of Christmas presents for people this year. Fighting to get things like tins of chocolates or bottles wrapped up is kind of like an annual sport and can be quite stressful. If you allow the spirit of Christmas to 'pump through your veins' like me though you ill soon find even things like that a lot of fun. What I sometimes do with a really obviously shaped present though is place it inside three or four other things so that it doesn't look anything like the bottle or tin of chocolates it is!

For added fun (but a HUGE waste of wrapping paper!) wrap each individual layer so that the person opening the thing in the end is kept guessing even longer. For a bit of devilment you can even include an I.O.U. for a present in the final box if you like. As soon as the person looks disappointed, whip there prezzie out from behind the settee or somewhere!

Fun! Fun! Fun! That's what you have to get into your head that Christmas and all the things that go with it are. If you can manage that you will never have another bad one. Stick matchsticks into your mouth in such a way as to force yourself to smile then look in the mirror until you can't help but laugh at what an idiot you are! My God, boy/girl if you were to spend a Christmas with me you would learn a thing or two!

Imagining the happiness someone else will get when they open your present is what makes buying them something special in the first place. I am a self-confessed me, me, me person most of the year round and am always getting told off for being 'self absorbed' so the festive season is when I concentrate on everyone else for a change. I do love people and am very attached to those I call my friends but I somehow lose sight of exactly how I feel during the year... Christmas is a time of reflection as well as celebration though and thankfully the colder nights, the chill of the wind and the sight of sprigs of Holly brings me to my senses each year.

So if you struggle with 'all things winter and Christmas' forget about how YOU feel and concentrate your energy on how you can make OTHERS happy. The bigger a kick you get out of giving someone a present the more of a kick they will get out of choosing something special for you!