Written by With less than 24 hours to go before the Christmas Eve festivities begin in our house, I’m giddy with excitement! I decided to quickly illustrate our Christmas stockings. Mine’s the one in the middle, and I’m assuming you can guess which one belongs to Phineas and therefore Philippe. I’ve just finished wrapping each of Philippe’s Christmas gifts and placed them under the tree. As I type this, Philippe is upstairs wrapping my presents. I’ve heard a few thuds and odd noises, but mostly I just hear him singing, so things must be going okay. He didn’t want to see all of his gifts, so I just sort of hid the worst wrapped ones at the back of the tree. It was difficult to decide which was wrapped the worst, though, as I’m terrible at wrapping gifts. I have zero patience for it, so I did my usual mad dash of frantic gift concealment. There’s usually at least one side that doesn’t look like it’s been chewed by mice, so that’s the one I proudly face outward while using bows to strategically hide any unfortunate mishaps. One gift has five bows on it, but that betrays nothing special about what’s inside and is simply a trophy of my severely challenged wrapping skills.
Thankfully, this time of year is mostly lit by flickering candles that make everything sparkle and seem delightful. Even the oddest wrapped gifts. The first gift I wrapped went okay and I think turned out rather nice. But, as ever, my attention deficit issues clicked in, so each subsequent gift received less and less care. The last gift looks like it’s been mauled by raccoons drunk on eggnog. I think I’ll give this one to him first, although I’ve already forgotten what’s inside it. I’m quite aware of my own deficiencies and know to wrap his final gifts first, and mark them with a gold bow. We didn’t really get the items shown here for Phineas this year, as he’s not as interested in toys these days and simply wants treats. Being good dog parents, we’re not going to give him a stocking full of treats, but he’ll get a few extra little treats on the big day. He really won’t care what’s in the stocking and just be excited about getting anything at all. In truth, Philippe and I will feel much the same way. It’s a joy to receive any wonderful little thing you didn’t see coming, and that’s what makes this time of year so special.
While we have a perfectly lovely tradition in our little house, I get a bit sentimental about the family we’re not able to join. Sure, we’ll have texts and FaceTime on Christmas to link us all together, but there’s nothing to match the experience of actually being together for the holidays. Thankfully, love has a beautiful ability to travel across time and space. It’s not locked into a location or even a moment. Our hearts have the most amazing ability to connect us to those we adore any time we need to feel that warmth and love. So, in this moment, I’m sending my love to my family, miles and oceans away. I’m thinking of you and loving you from this little home filled with glittering lights. And I hope that all of you who celebrate during this time of year, and each and every person reading this, are having a fantastic time with friends and family. Give them each a hug from me and hold them close. Love is all around us and can be found everywhere we look. And it’s why I love this time of year most, wrapped in a blanket of hope and joy, and cherishing the sight of those three little stockings.
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Lovely post, Charlie. Horrible gift wrapper here too. Love whoever invented the gift bag and use them whenever possible. 🙂
Thanks, Mary! 😃💕haha! Thanks for confirming I’m no alone! Actually… this year even Philippe suggested gift bags! lol But we managed to wrap everything in the end.
Every word, every brush stroke is lovely and wise and fills my soul with peace
and joy.
Aww thanks so much, Sarah! 😃💕Much love to you and yours this holiday season!
Thank you Charlie, and the same wishes for you and yours. Lovely stockings. 🙂
Thanks so much, Sheila! Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas! 😃💕
Your stockings make me smile! I’ve having fun today wrapping gifts as well. I love the “little kid” papers – with bears, Santas, elves, snowmen, and penguins. Love to you, Philippe, and Phineas as you celebrate. You have a lovely family!
Thanks, Sharon! 😃💕 Much love you and your family! And yay for the “little kid” papers!! I demanded that at least half of my gifts be wrapped in those! hehe 😊
Joyeux Noel à toute la famille! Paix, amour, et joie à l’occasion de cette fête très spéciale.
Merci beaucoup, Louise! 😃
Joyeux Noël à toute la famille aussi!💕🎄
Ah, yes! The raccoons drunk on eggnog do get around. They wrap all the presents here too. Though in an attempt to circumvent them, I’ve taken up the fashion of buying colorful bags and tissue and just stuffing everything in. Funny, though – that method still resembles something done by drunk raccoons.
haha!! Cheers to a happy holiday with presents wrapped by drunk raccoons!! 😃💕🎄Honestly, now that I think about it, that sounds perfectly fun!! lol
Ugh…wrapping! Mine always look like it’s something I’ve done with my feet. Clay does all the wrapping now. After he had finished wrapping this years presents this year, he smartly commented on how lovely his wrapping looked in comparison to what mine would’ve been.
I smugly replied that It was all my evil plan, making a mess of packages so he’d ( Mr OCD) would wrap instead.
He reminded me that this last weekend while making paper pompoms, he simply walked up beside me saying his didn’t look as good as mine and I took it right away. Not only had he caught me with my own trap, he showed everyone else there and that’s how I ended up making everyone else’s pompoms!!!!
haha!! I adore that first line! Hilarious! 😃 And could easily describe my wrapping as well. But, ugh… caught in your own trap as well! lol Fun! I love this time of year. Hope you and Clay have a very Merry Christmas, Laura! 🎄❤️
Merry christmas and joy to last throughout the year to you, Phillippe & Phineas!
Thanks so much, Laura! 😃💕 The same to you and yours my friend!
Lol, I used to be a meticulous wrapper. Everything had to be just right. The ends had to be folded just right and it was a bonus when I could get the pattern to line up! These days the only thing that has to be just right is the wrapping paper. It has to go along with my tree. I have to laugh because one package was too big for the piece of paper I cut, so I had to “patch” it. As I did this, I thought to myself….”in the olden days, you would have cut another piece of paper.” Ha! Progress in my letting go of junk. I loved your descriptive story. Falalala!
Thanks, Lori! 😃💕 Hehe… and yay for progress! 😉 Yeah, I totally did the same things this year. I was just about to cut another piece, when I thought, “what the hell!” and patched it like a pro. Well, not a pro… like a small child, but still… gift concealed! For the win! lol
I’m with you on the whole gift wrapping issue! That’s why on the eighth day, God created gift bags!😁😁
haha! So true! 😃💕 Philippe was ready to just buy a bunch of gift bags this year, but I insisted we wrap everything. I quickly regretted that decision while doing so. hehe
Yes, Charlie, as various people have pointed out, time you discovered the gift bag! My mother used to be the most accomplished wrapper of presents, but I proved impossible to teach… Thanks for a very cosy post, and have a lovely time!🎄🎄🎄
Thanks, my friend! 😃💕Yeah, I don’t think I even taught how to wrap properly, so it’s all just a big guess. Hope you have a very lovely season with you and yours!
Love the painting of the stockings! Absolutely adorable
Thanks so much, Carolann! 😃💕 Hope you have a very wonderful Christmas!
Thank you,
You too Charlie
What a sweet painting of stockings! That would be an adorable Christmas card! As for wrapping, I have a childhood memory of my sister and I spending time with an aunt to decorate her Christmas wonderland. We were wrapping boxes to display under the tree. The boxes wrapped by my aunt and sister, were perfect…. paper cut precisely, folds that looked like they were ironed, no visible tape….. you get the idea. They let me wrap to be part of the team effort, but my boxes had to be redone. Oh well, we all had fun and laughed, and made memories. Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much! 😃💕 Philippe and I thought about making it our Christmas Card next year, but realized we’d have to remember to actually send cards. 😊hehe… and love that your boxes had to be redone but they let you play along anyway! lol That’s a sweet memory!
Merry Christmas Charlie, thank you for all of your beautiful gifts of art this year.
Thanks so much, Sharon! 😃💕 And thank you for your beautiful gifts of art as well my friend! Merry Christmas!
Raccoons drunk on eggnog! That cracked me up, Charlie. Have a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year.
hehe! Glad you liked that, Pat! A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours! 😃💕
It’ll be morning there right now, so I can’t imagine how excited you are at the moment! And not to worry – I’m sure it wouldn’t be the same without your special brand of wrapping (I’m with you there. Mine always looks like it was done in the dark, with my eyes shut.) Merry Christmas to you all!!
Thanks so much, Jacob!! 😃💕 I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning will be arriving for you SOON now! Sending you much love my friend! ❤️ Yes, I’ve pretty much spent the whole day practically shivering with anticipation. It was almost impossible to type! lol 😊🎄eeeeek!!
Wishing you and yours the happiest of Christmases! P.S. If we lived a bit closer, my present to you each year would be to wrap your gifts for you. Being both creative and slightly OCD it’s one of my favorite things to do, in fact I get a little drunk on bows and ribbon!😊🎄
Thanks so much, Nancy! 😃💕If you lived a bit closer, I would HAPPILY take you up on that gift! Best gift ever!! Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas! 🎄