All Wrapped Up in a Brown Paper Bag

     A few weeks before Christmas each year, my Grandma would show up with the back of her car filled with gifts.  These were not the usual kind of gifts with shiny paper and bows.  There would be boxes filled with brown paper bags.  One for each of us.  They were not new bags, but ones that she had recycled and usually they smelled a little funny.  However, these gifts were the highlight of Christmas, because you never knew what you were going to find in those bags.  Flea collars, demon statues, garter belts, odd sized bras, just to name a few.  One year my dad got pink leg warmers and another we each got a harmonica.  We had more fun running around the house creating music, even though none of us knew how to play and it sounded horrible.  We got more joy and priceless memories over the years from those brown paper bag gifts.

My dad opening his gift.1985

      I have been thinking about Christmas gifts and realize that there are very few gifts that were wrapped in shiny paper and beautiful bows that I even remember what was inside.  The ones I do remember aren't wrapped the usual way.  The first kick of a baby whom a few days before the doctor told me I might lose, the family sledding down the stairs party (and I believe my mom was first), the ornament off the fireplace challenge, spending Christmas Eve with my brother doing our traditional lunch and shopping.  The gift of gracious forgiveness from my mom the Christmas morning that I spilled orange juice and totally ruined the breakfast she had worked so hard on. The time my brother miraculously pulled my car out of a deep ditch with no damage and my son who drove the horrible roads in a blizzard to get us safely to our destination that Christmas. There are so many of these gifts in my memory and the common denominator is not beautiful shiny paper, but people. 

  It has been many years since I have received a gift wrapped in a brown paper bag, but the cherished lesson taught by Grandma continues to live on.  The true joy of Christmas does not come from how a gift is wrapped.  It comes from the love we have and share with one another.  The best gifts don't come wrapped in the typical "normal" fashion. Sometimes, we take something so simple and make it complex.  The magic happens when you take a step back and take the time to look at how the best gifts are wrapped.  So far this year's gifts have come wrapped in the skilled hands of a cardiologist, the quickness of a caring nurse and in the power of healing.  They have come in the form of a PA student, an RN, an Athletic Training major, a Marketing major, a straight A Sophomore and a fuzzy demanding little dog along with FaceTime, phone calls and texts with family and friends.

May your Christmas and new year be filled with the treasures of
"the brown paper bag gifts".

A very Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

XOXO

Tiffanee

 "The best gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of 
a happy family all wrapped up in each other." ~Burton Hills