Fierce Foodie: The Perfect Wrapping Paper

.

A blogumn by Roya Hamadani

Suicidal Snowman Wrapping Paper

Every time December rolls around, I think, “This is the year.”  This is the year that I’ll get my presents and cards in the mail on time, I’ll budget my shopping perfectly, I won’t forget anyone, and every present will be matched to its recipient with a care that shows how much I appreciate and understand that unique and wonderful person.  And yet, every year including this one, ends the same way – presents mailed well after the 25th, in fact I’m lucky if they make it by mid-January, currently I have three dollars left to my name, and cards, what cards?  I still have two nearly full boxes of cards purchased over 3 years ago and they aren’t going anywhere.

I once believed that everything somehow depended on a single random decision: if I bought just the right roll of wrapping paper, the whole season would go according to plan, and conversely, if the paper was wrong, I was screwed from the get-go.  Really, I accorded that much importance to snowmen on sleds versus frosted trees.  I would stand in the aisles for hours, contemplating the consequences of choosing an elegant foil design over a brightly colored goofy animal motif, or the pricey paper that came in sheets over the cheap stuff that came in thick rolls and tore like toilet paper.  I had myself convinced that the kind of Christmas I would have would be largely determined by this decision.

So, even though I am behind as usual, I am proud of the fact that I finally nixed the paper dilemma this year.  I had a tiny break through and avoided the decision all together by recycling scraps of old wrapping and shopping bags, and decorating plain brown paper myself.  It’s taken me awhile to realize that the holiday is not meant to be a graded competition.  Who knows, maybe next year will be the same old thing, but I won’t stress myself out by expecting something different.  That would truly be a gift.

Recipe for Give Yourself a Break Holiday Punch after the jump:

Give Yourself a Break Holiday Punch

one bottle champagne (you can sub in ginger ale)
48 ounces of white cranberry juice
one bag frozen strawberries
one bag frozen cranberries
orange juice
festive ice cube molds

Mix cranberries and strawberries with orange juice and pour into ice silicone cube molds.  Freeze.

Mix champagne with cranberry juice and then add frozen fruit molds for a yummy, pretty, easy punch.