“What are we doing with these boxes, Nellie?” Susan asked. “What’s the plan, Stan??”
Nellie had asked Susan to come help her, but she hadn’t specified what she wanted her to do.
“Emily left these boxes out. She was going to wrap them, but her phone isn’t working again, so she is trying to get that fixed, and doesn’t have time to wrap them. So WE are going to wrap them for her,” Nellie explained.
“Can we do that??” Susan asked. “Do WE know how?”
“Yes. It can’t be that hard.” Nellie replied “I’ve seen people do it before.”
“Emily already got the wrapping paper, ribbon, and tags out….So what do you say? Want to help?” Nellie had all ready hopped off the table and was back with a roll of wrapping paper.
“Sure! Why not?” Susan said cheerfully. “What do we do first? unroll all this paper?”
She grabbed the paper and started unrolling it.
“Whoa whoa…not quite!!” Nellie cautioned. “Don’t unroll more than you need, or it will get messy very fast.”
She showed Susan how to measure the paper by flipping the box over 4 times.
“Wait! I forgot the scissors!” Nellie said as Susan was preparing to flip the box to measure it.
“Do I have to wait, or can I measure it by myself?” Susan called after the retreating Nellie.
Nellie was already back with the tag box. “I think the scissors are in here…” She rummaged around looking for them.
Susan waited patiently….and then not so patiently. “How can they hide in such a small box? she asked.
“Well, these tags are really cute! They keep distracting me!” Nellie defended herself.
Susan had to admit that they were indeed very adorable tags…so she said she would help Nellie look. Maybe together they could avoid the temptation of being distracted by cute glittery snowmen.
“Find anything yet?” Nellie asked as Susan dug down to the very bottom.
“Not yet…wait…wait…
YES!!! I have it!!” Susan triumphantly brandished a pair of scissors in the air.
Now the scissors had been found, they could progress with putting the paper on the box.
Nellie strettttched on her tiptoes to reach over the top of the box.
Susan helped to hold it in place from the other side.
Susan got the scissors and cut where Nellie marked.
When Susan finished cutting, Nellie took the roll of paper out of the way.
“Is there anything else I can cut? Susan asked hopefully. “I need practice to get better at using scissors.”
“You can cut the ends. The paper is a little too long right now,” Nellie told her. She went to put the paper away while Susan trimmed the ends.
When Nellie got back, Susan was examining where the paper met. “Oops! Either I cut wrong, or you measured wrong…Look! It doesn’t meet on this edge.”
“Oh well, can’t be helped now. If we patched it, it would look worse. Maybe we can cover it with the ribbon,” Nellie replied matter-of-factly.
Nellie quickly moved on to showing Susan how to fold the paper like this….
And then folding it like this….
“Here, let me tape it!!” Susan thought the taping after it was already folded looked a lot easier than folding it.
Soon Nellie handed Susan the last piece of tape….Well, she said it was the last one. Susan kept wanting to put more tape on the package “just to be sure it doesn’t come open”.
“Now for the ribbon!!” Susan cried waving it in the air. “Can I put it around the box? I don’t think I can do the bow part.”
Nellie agreed to this division of labor, and they both set to work on the ribbon.
Susan had some trouble with the knot…she tied her thumbs in it by accident at first..but she figured it out.
“Do you think the bow looks fluffy enough?” Nellie eyed it critically. “I like bows to be fluffy.”
Susan said it looked absolutely lovely…and could she tie it on now? ( I think Susan was in a hurry because she was getting a tad hungry and wanting lunch!)
While Susan was tying on the bow, Nellie set to work writing the tag.
“Nellie?”
“yes?”
“How many more packages are there?”
“Three”
“Oh”
“Nellie?”
“Hmm?”
“I think I have a paper cut.”
“Ouch! I’m sorry.”
“Nellie?”
‘What is it?”
“Can we maybe let some of the other dolls do them? After all, we would’t want to deprive them of the opportunity to experience the joys of gift wrapping.” ………..
I agree with Susan. Gift wrapping can be a lot of work! but the results can be so pretty 🙂
Tonight was supposed to be the deadline for the Christmas jacket giveaway….but I am tired. It was hard even getting this post out..so I will do the drawing tomorrow morning. Which means, that if you enter before I post the winner tomorrow, you can still get a chance to win 🙂
Stitching with Elli 
December 21, 2016 at 5:13 am
Good job, girls. I can’t let go of the tradition that a present is a box, with pretty paper, a bow, and a tag. The first time I saw a gift in a bag, I thought it was crazy. What child wouldn’t look inside before Christmas!! They were also deprived of the fun of shaking it and guessing contents. Watching my own mother wrapping presents was Christmas magic. She made such wonderful objects of art from them. How I wish I had pictures of them all. The package is part of the gift to me.
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December 21, 2016 at 6:57 am
I remember when I was little and the christmas tree lights were lit and under neath it was the pretty packages in sparkly paper and bright colored fluffy bows, I thought it was a most wondrous sight and a true work of art. Who am I kidding, I still do.
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