ALL WRAPPED UP

When it comes to parcelling up presents, you either love it or loathe it, as Christabel Smith has come to learn

- WORDS: CHRISTABEL SMITH

Tis the season to be stockpiling rolls of wrapping paper, glossy ribbons and packs of labels. You know you have bagfuls already, as 'twas also the season last year, but you've searched every drawer and can't find the damn things... Thus begins another present-wrapping trauma.

In my dreams, which usually begin from early December, there's a cupboard full of neatly arranged, elegantly wrapped presents. In truth, I'm the one slapping paper on boxes of chocolates as King Charles begins his Christmas speech.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

My mother, who was from the postwar, save-every-scrap generation, often turned her box room into a wrapping recycling centre. She would swoop in on scraps of discarded paper and derive more satisfaction from stashing it away than she did from any present. Then one Christmas, I was honoured to be entrusted with the wrapping of gifts for the poshest house in our village.

I selected the least-creased paper I could find, folded tidy(ish) corners, cut strips of tape instead of biting it, then used a new trick, involving ribbon and the blunt side of a scissor, to create a curly flourish on top.