Cyber Adventskalendar-Day 17

Happy Saturday!

I've been busy wrapping presents this morning.  Sure wrapping paper is terrible for the environment but nothing is prettier than a package covered in colored paper.  I don't go crazy with bows or extra bits and bobs.  Just some pretty paper and maybe one extra pretty ribbon is enough for me.  Besides, for being such a crafty and creative person I'm actually terrible at wrapping.  I inevitably cut way too much paper and my corners are always clumsy and never neat.  Back in undergrad I remember a dear friend was so horrified at my wrapping skills that he actually re-wrapped my presents. 

I'm also terribly wasteful and unless the paper is really clever I just chuck it into the recycling bin.  I grew up in a household where you had to carefully unwrap presents so the paper could be reused.  I tried this but just ended up with piles of paper in a small apartment so the decision was made to get out the recycling bags.

Did you know Scotch tape wasn't invented until 1930?  Our ancestors had to be pretty clever in the closing of their packages!  Maybe this is where the practice of ribbons came into being.  I love it in period movies when people unwrap packages-either presents or purchases from a store-that have been encased either in sturdy brown paper or in colored tissue paper and have been tied with twine.  It wasn't until 1890 with the development of the printing press that mass rolls of patterned paper were able to be printed.  The idea of paper rationing was a serious practice during the Depression and during WWII but did you know there was an increase of gift wrapping during the war?  Yes, the paper manufacturers were busy with the production of war goods instead of pretty paper but the War Office thought that Christmastime traditions and especially the wrapping of boxes in festive colors could increase morale.  Sales of wrapping paper increased 20% during the war!  

How about you?  Do you go crazy with bits and bots and papers alla Martha Stewart?  Do you use pretty bags with tissues?  Do you use recycled bags?