the morning wrap

Yesterday morning instead of our usual coffee and cereal we hopped in the truck and headed out for a quick bite before my 8:20 am "job".

I thought briefly that this is what it is like for commuting families that drop one off at work while the other one carries on to their work.

In our case. . . .he headed to help grandgirlie and little miss muffet put trim and baseboards in their basement.

I wandered the halls of the school until I peeked in the gym and knew I had found my spot.

The gym was full of tables of donated gently used and new gifts.

I found the rest of my small group from church and we found our tables which were already laden with gift wrap. . .scissors and tape.

The children started to arrive class by class.

Some of the volunteers helped them select for the names on their list.

They all arrived with gift tags all ready to attach to their selected items.

One by one they lined up behind the volunteers and offered their chosen gifts to be wrapped.

I smiled as little boys so often handed me a bit of jewellery for their mom's.  I always asked who the gift was for and most often. ..they would search my eyes for approval of their selection.

I wrapped two hammers and one thermos and several key chains for dads.

Oddly .. .I did not wrap any books.

The bath and body products were a big hit. . .as were candles.

What I found was that the young children have no concept of what an expensive gift might be.

They chose based purely on something that thought would make their parents happy.

If they did not recognize what an item might be for. . .

it did not get picked.

More than once I heard a child muse that they wished they could pick more than one thing for their mom.

I so wanted to tell them to go back and pick one more thing. . .

but the rules had been laid out firmly in the classroom.

I did have several sibling groups work together. . .

and stood in line watching their gift being wrapped by a younger sibling.

My friend Anneliese who is in my small group. .

was there beside me. .

smiling. .

and adding a special note of warmth and encouragement with each gift she wrapped.

Just before noon. ..

my last group of grade five girls came to my table.

They had picked their gifts with care and chatted it up with me while I wrapped.

In between they encouraged my gift wrapping efforts and left me so thankful I had signed up.

Just for the record. . .

a rocking horse can be wrapped up.

Now. . .I feel ready for Christmas.