This is the time of year when we think back to the very first
Christmas,
when the Three Wise Men; Gaspar, Balthazar and Herb, went to see the
baby Jesus and, according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him
gifts;gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover
an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact: There is no mention
of wrapping paper. If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have
said so: "And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And
the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph
was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth,
'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did
rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper
than the rankincense."
But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very
first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people
giving those gifts had two important characteristics:
1. They were wise.
2. They were men.
Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of
putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not
just my opinion: This is a scientific fact based on a statistical survey of
two guys I know. One is Rob, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is
"if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it.
" The other is Gene, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle
never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one ever had to wonder which
presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said. "They were the ones that looked
like enormous spitballs."
I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motor skills, I can
never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of
cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size
of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping,
you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage
this sector with a marking pen.) If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field
of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.
On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she
can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife, like many women, actually likes wrapping
things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries
separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it
were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt. My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills like having babies that come more naturally to women than to men.
That is why today I am presenting:
GIFT-WRAPPING TIPS FOR MEN
* Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If, when the recipient
opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.
* The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own
wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally
and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. They must be smoking crack.
* If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just
put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it.
This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky
recipient on Christmas morning.
YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?
YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!
YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.
YOU: I also got you some myrrh.
In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give,
or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of
year, is... that you save the receipt.
~Male Author Unknown~
