So every year I have my holiday shopping finished by mid to late November, because then I can wrap the presents, group them, and spend the next month staring at them like a brain-dead crow. Last year's theme was "Blue Winter," but this year I didn't feel that Los Angeles got enough of a fall, so I did "Fall Into The Holidays," a theme based on autumnal colors and the gentle melancholy of a crisp breeze.
I attribute this need to group and stare to two childhood traditions: 1. the fact that when I was a kid and had a birthday party, after the birthday party my parents would always dump all of my presents in the den, where they would stay for the next 24-48 hours, and I would walk into this room full o' booty, luxuriating in the aura of celebration, and I'd attempt to keep boxes intact to further extend its life. And 2. the fact that whereas Christian children get their presents dumped "down the chimney" the night before Christmas, so before opening, they probably spend a maximum of, like, forty-five seconds with their packages, I, being a Jewish child, had my presents laid out on our fireplace at least two weeks prior to the first magical night of oil, and so every morning, coming down the stairs to prepare my Eggo's, my gaze would float out over our pink living room and onto my presents, dazzling in the light.
Ostensibly, the big news around here is that on Monday the new deal goes through to turn Like The Red Panda in a feature film, with me writing the screenplay, but my blood sings loudest about the intermingling of the green, the orange, the brown, the soul-stirring waves and curls of the metallic ribbons leading up to my place.
I have to say, that's a lovely arrangement. I'm the same way about wrapping and presents. I've even considered wrapping empty boxes to put under the tree, just so I can get the assortment of sizes, shapes, and colors just so. I decided that would make me a little weird at this age, so I'll wait until I'm older and ready to be deemed eccentric.
I'm loving your autumnal color theme...well done.
Posted by: Trish Ryan | December 15, 2006 at 02:19 PM
Well, your talent for wrapping presents outshines mine by far, but I'm seventeen so I still have time to learn . . . But anyway. I hope everything with Like the Red Panda works out this time. I would love to see it come to life.
Posted by: Christina | December 16, 2006 at 06:05 PM
the packaging is lovely, but i suspect that you've left out the odd-shaped gifts from this photo -- the pentagons and pyramids and curvy boxes where eight corners of wrapping paper meet up awkwardly. that one stupid gift always throws the whole arrangement into tension.
Posted by: teresa | December 17, 2006 at 09:35 AM
Wow, congrats on the film deal!
Posted by: Laura | December 17, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Cool. Panda always seemed more suitable as a feature to me.
Also, nice wrapping. I'll have to see if we have any ribbon like that.
Posted by: claire | December 17, 2006 at 01:12 PM