Today, we traveled to Watertown, a working class town just outside of Boston city limits, to assist a new client with wrapping 50-65+ Christmas gifts. The client, an owner of several successful businesses in the area, admitted that he did not have the patience to do this kind of task, normally something his wife would take care of every year. Recently, however, his wife broke a few ribs and would not be able to move around very much.
When we arrived at the client’s home early in the morning, which was located on a quiet street off of Route 20, the couple’s cat, Phydo, greeted us at the door and the client’s wife was already happily compiling a list of supplies for us to buy in order to make the gift wrapping project a success. The shopping list included a lot of gift wrapping paper, gift tags, packing tape, gift boxes for the clothing, tissue paper, Scotch tape, bows, ribbon, and large plastic bags to lug all the presents into the car. (The client and his wife will be traveling to Ogunquit, Maine, for Christmas. We also learned that his wife came from a very large family and Christmas always meant a lot to her. Each year, the entire clan would come together to celebrate the holiday and open gifts).
To help us figure out how much to buy, the client showed us the volume of gifts that needed wrapping. First stop was a spare bedroom in the hallway where two very large boxes held 35+ Amazon.com shipping boxes of various sizes. Inside each opened-but-duct-taped-shut box was the gift itself, and all of the gifts in the room were for the wife. (Incidentally, this was also the room where the wife fell and broke her ribs). According to the client, the duct tape was used to keep his wife “from sneaking around.” What a funny couple!
The last stop was the kitchen area where 25+ gifts for other family members were spread out on the dining table, each gift item marked with the recipient’s name on a sticky note.
With a better idea of how many gifts needed to be wrapped, we drove to nearby Waltham to a Walgreens pharmacy where we bought all the gift wrapping supplies, buying a little extra of everything. We probably would have gotten a better selection at a Target store, but we did not want to waste time driving all over town. The client did not care for fancy supplies and we were eager to get the project started.
Back at the client’s home before 11AM, we went down on our hands and knees and started with the wife’s gifts. Virtually every gift item, from perfume to measuring cups to t-shirts, was packaged in its own box. The duct tape was removed from each Amazon.com box and replaced with a fresh piece of packing tape. The box was then gift wrapped. We got into a rhythm and thoroughly enjoyed wrapping box after box, item after item, hour after hour. A bow and a gift tag completed the package.
The client was working from his office nearby, but every now and then he would walk by and carry a lighthearted conversation with his wife in the living room and he would ask us if we needed any water or if we were getting hungry for lunch. We pushed on anyway and continued wrapping the presents nonstop, even as our clients enjoyed their takeout sushi lunch in the kitchen, because we were not ready to slow down just yet.
By the time we started the next round of wrapping the presents in the dining table, it was close to 2PM. Books and sweaters without any packaging got double-wrapped in tissue paper, followed by a sheet of gift wrapping paper. Other boxed items like game sets, a pair of UGG boots and a Wii video game console got wrapped as usual. As each item was wrapped and tagged, the client would drop the gift off in the spare bedroom so as to not let boxes accumulate in the dining table as we worked.
The client’s conversations with his wife entertained us and made the hours go by quickly. We finally completed the gift wrapping project by 5PM. We were thrilled to have purchased plenty of supplies and still had plenty left over for next Christmas’s presents. Before we left for the evening, the client insisted that we take some of the sushi and beef stir-fry left over from lunch, and we discussed future projects that they would need help with. We look forward to further assisting this client with his needs!
Images credit: Susan Ho
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