33 Weeks Until Christmas

Hi, friends! 33 weeks remain until Christmas and things are getting exciting here at the North Pole.

This week Mrs. Claus and I paid a visit to the Wrapping Department and the new head elf there, Elf Harriet Bow.

“Elf Harry”, as she is called, gave us a grand tour. She has worked in the Wrapping Department for 67 unbelievable years! And she’s just a hoot.

She took us to the design department, where they come up with new ideas in wrapping.

It’s not just about all the colors and art that goes into wrapping paper but also all the different ways a present can be wrapped.

It is in the design department, for example, where the idea for gift bags came up several years ago. They experiment with all kinds of different ways to disguise a gift. Putting presents inside of balloons was born here, as was the idea of putting gifts inside of “hard-to-open” packages – like welded boxes.

“Gag gifts are some of the more popular things we do,” explained Elf Harry. “People love the idea of making a present really hard to open, especially when someone really is anxious or excited to open a certain present they are either anticipating or wanting really bad. There was a guy who every year gave his brother the same pair of pants for Christmas and their game was to wrap it in something more ridiculous than the year before. They consulted with us and we taught them how to do some of the crazy things they did. One year one of the brothers put the pants in the glove box of a car, then had the car crushed and put under the other brother’s tree. We have done a lot of that kind of stuff in our Specialty Department – just making presents that are hard to unwrap.”

Elf Harry says they are trying lots of new and exciting things such as wrapping presents in water-loaded packages, which would make a real mess on Christmas morning. Zip ties are another popular trend in making gifts hard-to-open.

“A lot of people love the decorative quality of wrapping and how presents look great under the tree, but more and more people are seeing the unwrapping of a present as a Christmas experience that can be really fun,” Elf Harry explained.

The Wrapping Department is experimenting with wrapping that has sounds, special effects, and even certain smells.

Elf Harriet has taken over for Elf Wally in the Wrapping Department. She and Wally have known each other very well for years and Wally tells us that under Harriet’s capable leadership he expects Wrapping will not miss a beat this year in getting ready for Christmas.

The Wrapping Department has a very difficult job. They are the last production line before Santa’s sleigh gets loaded but they cannot do their job until Santa’s workshop has completed their work.

Many times the Wrapping Department has worked long into the night on Christmas Eve in order to get things done.

Not only do things have to be wrapped but they have to be sorted, tagged and then loaded in Santa’s sleigh in order. Many of the extra sleighs you hear about flying around on Christmas Eve belong to teams from the Wrapping Department who rush things to load up on Santa’s sleigh even while Santa is delivering.

I’m excited to get to know Elf Harry a bit better.

I am talking to Elf Frank Myrrh about getting her on the radio for interviews through out the year, because she’ll be much too busy on Christmas Eve during the Tracking Santa Around the World radio show.

She’s fun to talk to and I think you guys will be interested in getting to know her!

Have a great week!