I’ve finally started wrapping the Christmas presents. It’s
something I enjoy, but the math part is kind of stressful this year. Math, you
say? Yep. I have two children. And I want to be fair. That means, they need to
have approximately the same number of gifts, and the gifts need to equal
roughly the same amount of money. So I spread everything out, and I’m adding,
I’m combining. If I put this with that, then it’s only one present to unwrap.
When the kids open their gifts on Christmas morning, I don’t want one to be
opening a whole stack of bags and boxes while the other is done in seconds.
One kid wants cash. How many bills, in what denominations
and number of boxes will it take to equal the gifts for the other kid? I don’t
know . . . it sounds too much like a college algebra problem to me. I’m a
writer. I don’t do numbers. I do words!
But I also do gifts. I really like to give presents, and to
watch people open them. On Christmas, I don’t want to rip through all the
presents in one big, chaotic frenzy. I want to savor the unwrapping. I like to
delight the recipient. I want to see their face, and know that I’ve chosen
well. At parties with a round-robin gift exchange, I’m always disappointed if
my gift isn’t one that’s coveted, and “stolen” by others.
I think I did a pretty good job this year! So if I’m a
little off on my math, hopefully everyone will be too busy enjoying their
awesome gifts to notice!
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