One of my favorite parts of Christmas and the holidays is giving gifts, which coincidentally is directly tied to one of my least favorite parts — wrapping gifts.

When I was growing up I was fortunate to receive some of the most meticulously and beautifully wrapped Christmas presents. My father was a true master at many things that he set his mind to, and much like his perfect penmanship, his wrapping was second to none. It didn’t matter if it was a ridiculously shaped package, or if it was in an anti-theft case that could only be opened by wearing chainmail gloves while operating the Jaws of Life, dad could wrap it and every fold was crisp and pristine.

I was lucky to inherit many of my dad’s traits, but like his slender figure, his gift-wrapping trait must have skipped me. My gift wrapping is absolutely atrocious. I might muster out one or two decently wrapped presents, but then I will inevitably end up trying to wrap a laundry basket with tissue paper, and around the 30,000th rip in the paper, I decide to just throw tape at it. One year, since most of my gifts end up being more tape than wrapping, I wrapped the gift in tape, which worked very well. However, that isn’t a reasonable solution when you have four kids and you need to wrap approximately 20 items that they don’t need or really want.

This wouldn’t be a problem if my wife enjoyed wrapping gifts, but she in fact hates it more than I do, so I typically spent Christmas Eve — in true procrastinator style — in a mad dash to wrap the gifts so I could watch Die Hard and go to sleep.

Last year, I had an epiphany, and we tested an anti-wrapping approach.

We crammed all of the presents into two large bags, and one by one we had the kids close their eyes, and we set a gift in front of them. Then they would open their eyes, and marvel at the wonderful thing we bought them.

This anti-wrap approach not only saved me three miles of wrapping paper, 20 rolls of tape, the frustration of finding where I set the damn scissors, and the realization that I cut the paper too short despite measuring twice — it actually made Christmas last longer.

In previous years, we would wake up stupid early, and about three minutes after we started unwrapping presents, we were done. Meanwhile, our living room looked like the Tasmanian Devil went ripping through and there were bits of paper in places I didn’t know possible.

There is something both humbling and frustrating when you are walking around picking up bits of paper, tape, ribbons, and bows that not only cost you hard-earned money but also hours of your life only to be destroyed in the blink of an eye. It is just wasteful.

After we followed through on the anti-wrap approach, my wife and I were able to sit back and enjoy as the kids checked out their new items. There was no love lost for the lack of wrapping it seemed, so later in the day, we took a vote. Unanimously the kids said they wanted the anti-wrap to become a tradition.

Since in my spare time I secretly daydream of becoming Santa, like Tim Allen did in The Santa Clause, I decided if this were to continue we would need more appropriate bags than the oversized duffels we used. I cannot live out my fantasy as the jolly old elf if I don’t have my own festive sack.

First, my wife tried buying a Christmas sack. Unfortunately, when it arrived it seemed she was misled on the size, and it would hardly qualify for a stocking. Instead, I realized I needed to be crafty.

Owning a rather nice, and very lightly used Singer sewing machine, I decided the best thing for me to do was craft my own Christmas bag. Unfortunately, I didn’t fly solo to the fabric store, and instead had kids in tow who I foolishly consulted with regarding the fabric selection. Instead of leaving the store with two fabrics, I left with seven and a revised “plan” of making a Christmas bag for each person. I need to be honest here — there was no plan. I wasn’t smart enough to consult the internet or search for a pattern. I figured it wouldn’t be too hard. I forgot who I was dealing with, and what limited skills I actually have.

The first bag turned out like an oversized pillowcase that opened on its side. To remedy the problem the next fabric I cut in half and made two sacks instead. Then I decided to get crafty and try to make a tufted top that more closely resembled some of the artistic renditions I saw of Santa’s bag. Not only was it difficult for me to figure out, by the end, I had a pillowcase with some white fluffy fabric poorly stitched on top.

I will spare you the play-by-play of the next eight bags I made. Suffice it to say, some looked OK, while others were clearly sewn by a fat man with no experience as a seamstress (or is it seamster?). Some fabric was right-side-up, while others were upside down. I needed to rip two seams and one time I just cut off the stitched edge and started again.

However, at the end of the day, I ended up with 10 bags, each of which was festive, and would do an excellent job holding gifts to hand out. I only spent approximately $70 dollars to save $10 on wrapping paper. Sounds about right, right?

Anyway, papa’s got a brand new bag — well 10 of them.

— Scott Nunn is the assistant editor of the Huron Daily Tribune. Nothing Nunn attempts to do turns out the way he expects, as evidenced by the $700 snowblower rebuild to save $400 and the lathe that continues to gather dust — not sawdust. Nunn can be reached at scott.nunn@hearstnp.com.

Scott Nunn has been the assistant editor of the Huron Daily Tribune since October 2019.

Scott became a journalist a little later in life than many. Before joining the Tribune, Scott was the associate editor at Sunrise Printing & Publishing, where he worked with Eric Young in overseeing three weekly publications in Northern Michigan.

Prior to becoming a journalist, he was in graphic design, advertising sales, wholesale lumber and was even a pizza and short order cook. While he attended college for a couple stints, Scott attributes most of the skills he has acquired to his thirst for knowledge, excellent family and a history of wonderful mentors.

Scott is a self-described lover of food, YouTube junkie, proud handyman and a bit of a class clown.

Scott and his wife Shannon have four kids, three dogs and three cats.