For 26 years of marriage I’ve sent presents to my family through the mail.
As long as I remember to do this ahead of time,
the US Postal System has never let me down.
They haven’t lost a package, delivered it to the wrong address or run it over.
The only snaffoo we had was the year my darling little sister,
y’all may remember the grits eater from this post,
sent her package to Grandma and Grandpa at the Lake,
their family’s pet name for our parents, but forgot to put their names.
Even with the correct address, the mailperson wouldn’t leave the package,
because HEY!
the whole 25 mile long lake was inhabited by people with wrinkles and gray hair.
Anyhoo, back to mailing presents through the Post Office.
They arrive, but they don’t arrive looking nice.
Bows are usually smashed, curling ribbon looks like a kinked garden hose.
Color has worn off the boxes at the edges, and sometimes the gifts are peeking through the holes.
You might also remember I am the self proclaimed
QUEEN of the PEEKLESS PACKAGES?
Scroll back in time to learn about my present wrapping skills.
So this wedding gift, the one with
the coffee can and the matches tin
and the drawstring bags, needed to be mailed.
I didn’t want them to arrive all crunched and smunched and ripped.
The OCD part of me wanted the packages to match the wedding.
Ihad silver wrapping paper,
which is close enough to gray to make me happy,
inexpensive paper doilies,
scrapbook paper from Michael’s,
Mod Podge, which I thought was Modge Podge until a week ago,
my Cuttlebug and
my floral and alphabet die cuts.
Floral die cuts,
doilies, hearts and alphabets, were easily Mod-Podged in place.
At least the fronts of the packages arrived in fairly good shape!
I can tell you what’s in the packages now, because they already opened them.
Couldn’t lose the element of surprise, now could I?
We gave them what they needed to go camping for their honeymoon.
The sleeping bags were in bags, of course, large, plastic gift bags.
I had a lot of fun crafting, sewing, planning, decorating and shopping for this gift.
Our family wanted something really special for our son and his bride.
We wanted the gift to express the love in our hearts.
But, the gift wasn’t theirs until they opened it.
They had to receive it.
If they had refused the package from the Fed-Ex driver, sorry, Post Office,
their office was closer to my house, the gift would never have been theirs.
We offered, they had to receive.
Remind you of another special GIFT?
We’ve been offered the free gift of salvation.
The purchase price wasn’t money, but the blood of Jesus.
It wasn’t wrapped with doilies and frills, but with a scourge.
Salvation is offered full and free, from a heart filled with love.
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