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The Elf in a hurry. There's a small little story, an inside joke if you don't mind, that I will share with you. Santa Claus almost always left our presents under the tree unwrapped. But, occasionally, if we had had an exceptionally good year, there might be one or two presents under the tree that stood out from the others. You could always spot them as the "Christmas paper" might be the 'colored' comics from a Sunday newspaper, or perhaps these presents might be wrapped in magazine papers, newspaper, or an occasional red or green Christmas paper. The other thing was that these presents were wrapped in the most irregular, sloppy-sided, poorly taped, rag-tag fashion which set them apart from the very neatly wrapped, every corner taped down, neatly manicured with a bow on top presents. Dad always said that those must've been from the same anxious elf at the North Pole that he recognized from when he was a kid. Appears there is this one elf that is always so excited, so enthusiastic, so full of joy in his work, that he tends to be a little bit in a hurry when he wraps the presents. He must've been so anxious to get the job done and the presents on their way that he was a little cavalier in his wrapping, or ran out of proper paper and used whatever he had handy. Dad said he always liked this particular elf's presents the best because they almost always ended up being just what he wanted, or perhaps something that he had kept his entire life. Early on, perhaps it was simply a good pair of socks, or new underwear, which was always in need. But there was also the pocket knife, that Dad still carries, or a watch which has long since quit running but still sits in Dad's dresser drawer as a keepsake. So when we would unwrap those occasional presents from this anxious elf, we would also find something that we really wanted or needed, or at the very least, something we have kept to this day. We eventually would look for these self-apparent gifts on Christmas morning. "Aha! That one has to be from that one Elf!" we would say towards Dad. And we would unwrap the tattered corners and struggle with the over-taped paper. Ugliest wrapping you ever saw, but that Elf sure put a lot of joy and thought into his gifts. I'm wrapping the wife's presents today. Having snuck away for this annual labor of love, I found my way to my place of employment, took the gifts in and started wrapping them for the coming Christmas. Appears I've got a little bit of that Elf in me too, as the wife always laughs at my pitiful corners, or where the underside of the wrapping paper shows through, or how the paper doesn't quite meet in the middle and there's a ton of tape used to hide the poor craftsmanship. I've told her the story of the anxious Elf and how much I enjoyed his work and she has kind of jumped on the bandwagon herself. I once apologized to her for my poor work to which she replied, "I love it. It means you had to sit there and wrap this yourself." Oh sure, she loves those gifts that someone has 'professionally' wrapped. Those usually mean that it's something 'really' special. But it's those poorly wrapped gifts that she has learned to love as well. The ones that come from that anxious Elf, who is in too big of a hurry to get the job done neatly due to his excitement and joy of giving. I thought of this and went to my little box of treasures, and pulled out a finely crafted Case pocket knife that was left to me years and years ago by that same anxious elf. Funny thing, I don't think Dad ever learned how to wrap a present. Must be a family trait.  "The Elf in a hurry." © Wauhilau as posted in bead bar courtesy of Greasy Grass
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