ma's presents 2008

ma's christmas present bonanza 2008Behold, the excessive bounty that is Ma's collection of Christmas presents for 2008... spread all over my Little Red Sofa...

Going down the list (and jumping all over the couch), we have:
  • Mikado tickets (there's a whole production about the wrapping too)
  • Mikado poster
  • Kimmidoll magnet (Yumi)
  • Kimono Bear
  • Harajuku Lovers Fragrance - Love
  • Jewellery
    • Red coral earrings/pendant
    • Palas coin pendant
    • Hand painted Celtic Knot pendant
    • Elk Cherry Red Triple Loop pendant
    • Elk Cherry Red Loop earrings
    • Shell earrings
    • Pink and grey pendant
    • Pink gemstone ring
    • Japanese paper brooch
    • Red RiverKids Beads
    • Glass circle pendant
    • Faux pearl pendant
  • DVDs
  • Books/Paper
    • Tales of the Unexpected - Roald Dahl
    • Parky: My Autobiography - Michael Parkinson
    • Rupert Bear Annual 2009
    • Rupert Bear card
    • Sydney Calendar 2009 and image CD
    • Wall-E and EVE pens (actually there's four in the pack, so that's one set for her and one for me)
  • Stuffed Toys
    • Snowman
    • Vibrating Reindeer (don't ask... but I have a snowman just like it)
    • Zebra
  • Silver Reindeer ornament
  • Silver Angel ornament (in white organza bag... which got turned into a present decoration)
  • Scented Space Fragrance Diffuser - Botanical Fragrance
  • Wind Twister with yellow glass ball
  • Reeves Copperfoil Seahorses
  • Seahorse Towel Beach Pack
  • 60MB External Hard Drive
  • Red Saddler wallet
  • Nougat Limar Cherry Cranberry Pistachio
  • Guylian Chocolates (small box)
Wooooo... that's a list of forty five items... which is possibly some sort of record... certainly looks impressive (actually, now that I see the list posted on a full blog page rather than just in the tiny little publishing window, it's pretty damn scary!)...

the wrapping of the mikadoAnd now there's the story of wrapping the Mikado tickets... don't you love a story that has to come with visual aids (see right)...

I'd started out with a half-baked plan... and then I'd started collecting bits and pieces as I went along, hoping that it would all fall into place... and by the end I had the Mikado tickets in their little Bass envelope and the Mikado DVD and the black gift box (after I'd finally given up on the idea of finding a Bento box) and the two squares of Japanese fabric (and thank you so very much Nice Lady I Used To Work With for hemming it for me)... plus the little kimono clad Bear...

It kinda turned into a bit of a matryoshka situation... the ticket envelope went inside the DVD case... the DVD got wrapped in one piece of fabric... the wrapped case went into the black box (wrapped in tissue paper to stop it sliding around)... the black box got wrapped in the second piece of fabric... and the Kimono Bear got attached to the knot.

It looks pretty damn spiffy I have to say... not overly Christmasy (although really, who cares), but very cool and totally on theme. And it's got that whole "Unwrapping Complexity" of about an 8.3, which is always a bonus (because Ma and I are just evil when it comes to wrapping things).

Speaking of wrapping... here's the results of the 2.5+ hours I spent wrapping everything...

the wrapped bonanza 2008Yep... about two hours on Saturday afternoon, and then another half an hour or so to finish up tonight. The only things I had left were the Copperfoil Seahorses, the Wind Twister (both of which were too big to put in anything I had) and the Sydney Calendar (which I needed a flat A4 box for, and I didn't have one of those either). Unfortunately I got really organised and took everything I didn't need back to Ma's place yesterday... which included all the ribbon, which, as it turns out, I DID need (well, want more than need)... *mutter mutter mutter*...

(Oh, and can I just geek out for a second about the black fabric I use as a photography backdrop from time to time)... when you hold the fabric it looks completely unnatural and slightly shiny and a little weird... but you hang it and photograph it, and unless there's direct light on it, it just vanishes and becomes the perfect background. If only I could remember what kind of material it actually was and find more!)

Now, getting back to the wrappage...

Sadly, with the exception of some of the slightly more obvious ones, I've kinda forgotten what present is in about half of the parcels (so by Thursday I'll have forgotten ALL of them)... whoops!

I will admit to a mild case of frustration at certain points in the wrapping process though... I've sat with Ma and watched her wrap things and put ribbons on things and do that voodoo that she do so well for pretty much my whole entire life. I've quite literally put my finger on the ribbon while she ties the knot. But do you think I had any freakin' idea of how she does those knots when I came to do them myself? Of course not! So a few of the knots are akin to a train-wreck, but they got the job done.

Weird, because normally I wouldn't do the whole ribbon thing (I tend to get a little slack when I have to wrap stuff myself), but I didn't even really think about it on Sunday, I just went with the ribbon (possibly because I was way more "box orientated" than I usually would be). At least everything looks all pretty... all thirty three parcels... *sheesh*...

Ma's going to lose her damn mind on Christmas Day... hehehehehe...

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