Random Story – Make them work for it

This is just an odd little story from my life.

With Christmas coming, I figured I’d let you know some wrapping tricks, in case you’re so inclined.

In my family, usually at Thanksgiving we’ll pick names for Christmas.  Sometimes there are shenanigans so that Person X will pick Person Y’s name so they can do some devious wrapping.  I usually just do devious wrapping on whoever I get.

A couple years ago, I picked one of my nephews.  I thought for a bit, and came up with an idea.  When we got together for Christmas, he got a wrapped box.  He took the wrapping off to find the box duct taped shut.  He dug through that, to find another duct taped box inside.  He dug through that, to find a third duct taped box.  Inside that, he found a clump of duct tape wrapping something the size of a gift card.  He got all that duct tape off to find a piece of cardboard, about the size of a gift card.  This confused him.  So that was when I walked over and handed him the gift card out of my pocket and said something like, “I guess I forgot to put it in.” I know my brother, his dad, got a good laugh out of it.

A related scheme, I think a few years earlier I got my other brother and I wrapped three or four boxes.  But I did put his gift card in it, I just tucked it under some crumpled newspaper in the outermost box.  So he dug through two duct taped boxes to find … nothing.  I then had to show him the gift card in the outermost box.  He got a chuckle out of it.