As I was preparing for the Christmas gift wrapping and exchanging, one statement my mom used to say, came back to my mind: "Never rely on the box". This statement was repeated at every Christmas simply because she would reuse the same boxes year after year.
Collecting boxes
Throughout the year, whenever we would get something in a sturdy box, she would save that box in our locker. We had big boxes, small boxes, long boxes, etc. Although presents might often come in boxes, sometimes, it was not the case and we would be struggling to find a way to wrap it. That is where the collected boxes came in handy.
The big blanket
One Christmas, I had made a comforter for my brother, and of course, I needed a box. But a comforter is pretty big so did we have a big enough box? Of course we did. We had that ONE big box, for several years, and it was the perfect size.
Is that a TV?
Yes, the big box that was used over and over, was a TV box. The first time it was used to wrap a Christmas present, the recipient thought they were getting a new TV, but it was not the case. I think that is when my mom started that phrase: "Don't rely on the box!", and boy was she right!
This phrase has been used and reused by her over the years, but also by me now, with my own family. Just this Christmas, my son got a box of Vachon cakes, but it had a book in it. My husband got a box from Royal Dulton, with a can of cashews and a box of Macaroni & Cheese included needed markers.
How about you? Did you ever get presents wrapped in a box that fooled you? Or did you ever wrap presents in a very odd or clever way to disguise the content? Share in the comments below. Who knows? We might want to copy your idea for next year.
After two years of weekly stories, this series is now coming to an end. I hope you enjoyed those stories and that they acted as prompts for your own memories, stories and adventures of the past. I hope you took the time not only to remember those, but to also document them, or write them down somewhere. Remember that those stories live in your memory and nobody else has lived through them the same way you did.
5 thoughts on “Remember when…? – Box”
if we had no wrapping paper we would the Sunday comics to wrap presents. most times they would read them before opening the present.
That is a double-purpose usage!
For many years, when asked by my husband what I wanted for Christmas, I would say “apart from the Kenwood Chef (food mixer) I don’t mind”, knowing that said Kenwood Chef was rather expensive. One year I asked for a fold-up umbrella, and sure enough under the tree was a parcel that was about a foot long, felt soft with a hard core. As I had already picked what this was I was told to open it first – only to find the inside of a roll of cooking foil with a net curtain wrapped around it, and round that the guarantee of a Kenwood Chef!! This was more than 30 years ago and I still have and use the Kenwood.
I also have enjoyed reading the stories, they definitely brought back memories even if I didn’t reply to them. Thank you for sharing with us.
This year my friend gave comforters as presents. Lacking anything large enough to wrap around them, she decided to use trash bags. This proved to be a practical idea because it gave a place to stash the parts of holiday presents that have to be tossed because they can’t be recycled or reused.
I have enjoyed the weekly stories and am sorry to see them come to an end. They did stir some memories of my own. Thank you for them.
I am glad you enjoyed those stories and that they did, in fact, stir memories of your own. That was the goal. I wish i could continue, but i am slowly running out of “interesting” stories that are not repetitive 😉
Remember to document those stories. You never know who will enjoy reading them. Who knows? maybe i will end up publishing them myself too, in the future.