0:27

Hello, Internet! I'm your husband-host, Travis McElroy.

0:29

And I'm your wife-host, Teresa McElroy. And you're

0:31

listening to Schmanners! It's extraordinary etiquette. For

0:34

ordinary occasions. Hello, my dove. Hello, dear.

0:36

How are you? We never talk anymore.

0:38

Well, let me tell you. Please! Let

0:40

me tell you how I am. Please!

0:43

I am a little holiday-stressed. Oh?

0:46

Yeah. We need to sit

0:48

down and order our presents.

0:51

It'll happen! Listen!

0:54

It hasn't yet. Christmas magic

0:56

comes and Christmas magic comes. Maybe

0:58

everybody gets $20. We'll

1:01

see. I mean, I

1:03

could just go down to the thrift store and buy

1:06

people some crap. Well, I

1:08

don't... I'd rather have

1:10

$20 than some crap. Alright.

1:12

$20 it is. A hundred tiny baskets

1:15

of $20 bills. How many

1:17

people do you think we know? I'm not

1:19

giving a hundred people presents. Like,

1:22

20 mangs. In

1:24

fact, I'm gonna cut it off. Anybody...

1:27

Once you get past a certain age, no presents

1:29

for me anymore. Because I don't want to cut

1:31

the kids off. But does Dad really need stuff

1:33

anymore? No, he... I mean, the

1:35

answer is... He's got so much stuff. We don't

1:37

need any stuff either. Actually, I think a

1:39

good Christmas present for Carol would be if

1:41

we took stuff away from Dad. That probably

1:44

would be great. Yeah. Hey, Carol, if you're

1:46

listening. Surprise! But

1:48

you know what my... Well, hold on. I want to tell you

1:50

about... I want to tell you about the

1:52

thing that we came up with. Oh,

1:55

it's not out yet. I can't... I don't think I can talk about

1:57

it yet. Because I think it's in the

1:59

can... In the can of... especially this

2:01

year, Griffin comes up

2:03

with a solution for

2:05

like Christmas, like candle nights gift giving when someone

2:07

has too much stuff or you can't think of

2:10

something to give someone and it's absolute genius. And

2:12

my only regret is that I feel like

2:14

people are gonna learn about it too late

2:16

for this year. But you'll be able to

2:18

implement this new gift giving system in

2:21

2024, so. But you

2:23

know what I really do like about gift

2:25

giving? You love wrapping presents. I love

2:27

wrapping presents. This is why another

2:29

reason you and I are a good couple, obviously it's

2:31

a track, as the scientist

2:34

Paula Abdul once said. Because I

2:36

love buying presents. I love spending

2:38

money. You don't like spending money.

2:41

You don't like the present. I see a thing,

2:43

I'm gonna be like, that's what they're getting. I

2:45

don't second guess it, I don't third guess it.

2:47

I barely even guessed it at all. But

2:49

then it's like, now you gotta wrap these. And I'm like, oh,

2:52

what's the time? I

2:55

love wrapping presents. I love

2:57

staying up late to wrap presents. I

2:59

love thinking about wrapping presents. You like homework,

3:01

that's gross. No,

3:04

it's art. Yeah, I will say.

3:06

I'm gonna tell you about how artful it

3:08

is. You are legitimately amazing at wrapping presents.

3:11

Can I tell everybody first what Dotty said

3:13

she wanted to get BB for Christmas because

3:15

it's taking me paying? All right. I was

3:17

talking to Dot who's almost four. And I

3:19

was like, okay Dot, I think this year

3:22

you can pick up presents for people. And

3:25

like I was talking to about her aunts and her

3:27

cousins and everything. But my favorite was, I said, what

3:29

do you wanna get BB? And

3:31

without missing a beat, she had the answer locked and

3:33

loaded. I said, what do you wanna get BB for

3:35

Christmas? And she said, her own bag of seashells. What?

3:40

First of all, the qualifier of her own

3:42

bag of seashells. As if you, me and

3:44

Dot all have bags of seashells and BB

3:46

just hasn't earned hers yet. But

3:48

she just knew her own bag of seashells. And

3:51

Then I was like, well, what about because BB

3:53

loves soaps shaped like things. I was like, what

3:55

about soaps shaped like seashells? And It was like

3:57

she and I were in like, Lord

4:00

Ram like will come up with I'm

4:02

bryce like what about seashells? Their civic

4:04

the are so she biloxi south and

4:06

she's like yeah that's it and she

4:09

sighs. I'd take me to no end.

4:12

How do you wrap seashells and on one

4:14

of the time that now you need a

4:16

box? Yeah cause you be guess that rather

4:18

one Yeah okay. I'm so

4:20

let's let's go over a brief

4:22

history. Of. Shiny paper, A

4:24

guy. So the practice of

4:27

concealing and gift and paper. Goes.

4:29

Back almost two thousand years.

4:32

To. Win the wiseman set up and they're

4:34

like you'll never. Death is Frankincense America like?

4:37

I wasn't going to guess that know bogus.

4:39

Ah there there is a

4:41

thoughts that. A kind

4:43

of went in and out. Of style is

4:45

it syncs incensed that makes them are more

4:48

sense right and raised him a frank same

4:50

as in set Murmurs or moving on August.

4:53

So sometimes he wanted to sell

4:55

how your wealth and status allowed

4:57

you to give a person against

5:00

the you wouldn't rapids. So that

5:02

they would know right away how awesome

5:04

you are, right? Sure, That

5:06

that is about the gift giver and

5:09

not the get receiver Many? Yeah. So

5:11

then Also, if you want the gift

5:13

receiver to be pleasantly surprised, you want

5:15

to wrap it somehow. Sure,

5:19

You. Could wrap it in

5:21

class. There. Is asthmatic.

5:23

Long fancy. Class. There is evidence

5:25

of Korean people using both doggies

5:28

a traditional wrapping cloth to cover

5:30

their gifts during the Three Kingdoms

5:32

period. Sir. And these

5:35

wrapping cloths were primarily practical because

5:37

they weren't just use for presence.

5:39

they were used to carry things

5:41

like clothes. Or books or foods.

5:43

Ah, but I mean, it wasn't.

5:47

You'd. Entirely utilitarian, I'm

5:49

the. Traditional Folk class

5:51

is still deeply entwined with

5:53

Korean culture and is used

5:55

in everything from gift wrapping

5:57

two weddings, to Buddhist right.

6:00

all sorts of things. Do you? Because

6:02

we've been using some like reusable kind

6:04

of stretchy things and

6:07

I enjoy those immensely for obvious

6:09

reasons. It simplifies wrapping, creates less

6:11

waste. I do like to still

6:13

wrap some things for the girls so that they

6:15

still get the like, you know, ripping

6:17

it apart kind of thing. You don't

6:20

get that with cloth. I mean with

6:22

this kind of style of wrapping, right,

6:24

you do get to unfold it.

6:27

Not like with those ones that I found that are

6:30

more like bags that are kind of stretchy. So

6:33

this, these Korean cloths also

6:36

are symbolic, right? It symbolizes the

6:38

value that you wish to, that

6:40

you wish upon the recipient. So like

6:43

a value such as luck or protection

6:45

or prosperity or longevity. It

6:47

also feels a lot like, you know, when people give

6:49

you like moving hacks and they're like you can wrap

6:51

things, gentle things in socks,

6:53

in t-shirts. It's like hey, if you're

6:56

gonna do it, why not do it

6:58

with like something that's like beautiful or reusable

7:00

or practical in some way, which I do

7:02

kind of like. We need to start like

7:04

wrapping Christmas presents in t-shirts, right? I got

7:06

you a t-shirt, but that's not all. Look

7:09

inside. That is a great idea and we'll cover

7:11

more of that later. Oh, okay. Ooh,

7:13

wah, wah. There's a similar practice

7:15

in Japanese culture and that

7:18

is furoshiki. And

7:22

the name translates to bath spread

7:24

because this cloth was originally used

7:26

by high class visitors who had

7:28

packed their belongings in them before

7:30

they visited a bathhouse. Oh, okay.

7:33

And usually they were emblazoned with family

7:35

quests, but these

7:38

reusable cloths are found in a variety

7:40

of patterns today and people in Japan

7:42

still use it because it is a

7:45

reusable wrap, right? It's environmentally

7:47

conscious, but I mean

7:49

it is fancy, but you don't use it

7:51

anymore to show off how fancy you are. I

7:55

mean listen, if

7:57

we wrap anything these days, they're still

7:59

a little bit of like, look how

8:01

good this is, right? Yeah. Like,

8:04

whether it's wrapping paper or say, like, I'm

8:06

sure that there are some people who are like, I use

8:08

newspaper or whatever. Yeah. Right, but there's

8:10

definitely people who are like, check out this

8:13

closet. Wrapping paper in the iteration

8:15

that we know it today, where

8:18

do you think that tradition comes from? Germany.

8:22

No. England. No. In

8:25

the. 1860s. Victorian

8:27

era. I was, is that 1860s? It's a

8:29

lot of the 1800s. Yes. Okay,

8:32

great. So it was practiced by

8:34

the luxury class, right? Because if

8:36

you're going to buy something to

8:38

wrap the thing that you bought,

8:40

it's going to cost more money

8:43

and also you're going to throw it away. Yeah.

8:46

Right? So it was, it

8:48

was kind of a display of wealth at

8:50

that point. Sure. Yeah. I

8:53

mean, literally disposable wealth, right? I have enough money to buy

8:55

a thing that's going to go in the garbage. Right. But

8:58

this wasn't all. There was often

9:01

like lace trimmings or ribbons or,

9:03

you know, sprigs of

9:05

spruce or berries or whatever.

9:07

Right. You would tuck that in there to

9:09

decorate it. And if there's one thing I know

9:11

about Christmas, it's about the boxes, the bags,

9:13

the tags, the

9:16

ribbons, the frippery.

9:19

That's what it's about. Victorians

9:22

used to decorate their, their own

9:24

more plain paper, right? And

9:27

a process called marbling. You may have seen

9:29

this when you're talking about water

9:32

marbling nails. Right. Sure.

9:35

And so the paint is put on top of

9:37

water in a small dish and then

9:39

you press the paper on top of it, which gives a

9:41

kind of like swirly look. Oh sure. Yeah.

9:44

I've seen that with people doing it with helmets. But they point

9:46

the spray paint at that and then they dip the helmet in.

9:49

Mm hmm. Yeah. It was

9:51

rather unwieldy because the paper was very

9:53

thick. Right. And

9:56

scotch tape wasn't invented until 1930. So

9:59

you. had to kind of fold

10:01

it or like use like wax

10:03

or string and whatever it

10:06

is to just like keep it in place.

10:08

Right. So that

10:10

kind of paper was

10:13

not practical for most

10:15

people. So tissue was

10:18

a good option. You

10:20

know, or there were

10:22

stores who offered to wrap in

10:25

like Manila paper. So

10:29

this time period, the

10:31

wrapping paper is available

10:34

but not widespread. In fact,

10:37

in this time period, there

10:39

like so many things as a

10:42

campaign against wrapping paper.

10:44

Sure. Was

10:47

it, it probably wasn't because it was wasteful

10:49

though. That wasn't a concern. Was that

10:51

like... It was a little bit. It

10:55

was put as a shallow frivolity.

10:59

Oh, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, not allowed to have fun.

11:01

In 1911, there's a

11:04

magazine called Hardware Dealers

11:06

Magazine. Sounds like a barrel

11:08

of fun. Then it became Vogue. Changed

11:11

to Vogue later. Oh,

11:13

no. No, you don't think so? No, I don't think

11:15

so. No, you don't think? Okay. That

11:20

doesn't usually happen where I make a joke and you just

11:22

go, no. Stop.

11:27

But not that one. This

11:31

is the line. You sounded so

11:33

sure. And

11:38

I wanted to make

11:40

sure that you knew that

11:42

was not correct or factual.

11:45

You were worried that I thought Hardware

11:47

Dealer Monthly or whatever actually became

11:49

Vogue. I was. Baby,

11:52

are you okay? That's why

11:54

I said no. I joke too much apparently.

11:57

My children, my wife worry about my family.

11:59

And a lot of times I say, yesterday Theresa

12:01

and I went on a date when we came home

12:04

and the babysitter served the kids and I walked in

12:06

by myself and I said, oh no, I left mommy

12:08

at the restaurant and Doc goes, are you joking? And

12:11

I was like, yeah, bud. Yeah,

12:13

buddy. Oh no. Okay.

12:16

This is the explicit instructions they

12:18

printed for business owners. Whatever

12:21

your business, leave the

12:23

freak wrapping paper to

12:25

the other fellow. The freak? Yes. The

12:28

other fellow and you will make friends for your

12:30

store by this means. So

12:35

your customers will appreciate that you

12:37

don't have wrapping paper. Uh-huh. That's

12:41

weird. Yeah. I think so too.

12:44

But we see this a lot, right? There's

12:46

this whole kind of like, there's always a culture and

12:48

a counterculture. There's always a clash. It's

12:51

just weird to think of wrapping paper

12:53

as being culture and counterculture. Exactly.

12:56

It's not, it's wrapping paper guys. Chill.

13:00

This is when the going gets good. In

13:03

the early 1900s, there

13:06

are two brothers from Kansas City,

13:08

Missouri who would

13:11

make the

13:14

business of wrapping paper

13:17

explode. Were their names Hall

13:19

and Mark? No,

13:21

their names were Joyce and

13:23

Raleigh Hall. Oh,

13:26

I was so close. You were so close. No,

13:28

it's Hallmark. It's Hallmark. Yeah. Um,

13:32

their first iteration of their store,

13:35

unfortunately burst into flames. They

13:38

had a stationary store in 1915. A

13:41

fire completely destroyed the office and

13:43

the inventory. But

13:46

then they did set up shop

13:48

again. And

13:51

by 1917, they

13:54

actually bought their own printing presses

13:56

so they could manufacture Valentine's and

13:58

Christmas cards. Right. So it

14:00

Hallmark started out as stationary,

14:02

right? And

14:05

that holiday season was

14:07

when their entrepreneurial

14:09

spirit really profited. Oh,

14:13

okay. I wanna hear more about this, but first

14:15

Teresa Murray. Yeah. How

14:17

about a thank you note for our sponsor?

14:19

Okay. Teresa,

14:26

I want you to know, I would marry

14:28

you all over again. Yeah,

14:31

but this time, could we do a better job? Could

14:33

we do an easier job? Wow, see it's different

14:35

when I was gonna make that joke. But

14:37

then I'm like, I'd marry you again. You're like,

14:39

could we do it better? Oh, yes we could.

14:42

A little less stress. That's what I'm after. A

14:44

little less stress in this dress. We could do

14:46

that by working with Zola. Because when you're getting

14:48

married, it's not just about the big day. It's

14:51

about all the days along the way.

14:53

And Zola is here for them and

14:55

for you. They have beautifully designed, so you

14:57

have the dates and invitations, beautiful wedding

14:59

websites with a built-in registry. And Zola's

15:01

design sets the scene for the kind

15:03

of wedding. It's gonna be plus, they

15:05

can even suggest venues and vendors and

15:08

make the experience even more memorable. We were

15:10

doing it all on our own, like babes

15:12

in the woods, getting married in the woods

15:14

with babes. I don't know. I lost

15:16

it. I didn't like it. A

15:18

tree performed the ceremony. It was wild stuff.

15:21

But if we'd had Zola, we would have known

15:24

step by step exactly what we needed to figure

15:26

out. We would have been just that much easier.

15:28

So why don't you get started

15:30

with Zola today? Start planning

15:33

at zola.com/Schmanners. That's

15:35

z-o-l-a.com/Schmanners. We also

15:37

wanna say thank

15:39

you to Podia.

15:42

Podia is a platform that gives you

15:44

everything you need to run an online

15:47

business. Everything, not just some things, everything.

15:51

Even the confidence to do it.

15:54

Oh, short supply. Yeah, listen,

15:56

unless you're me, you probably don't have enough

15:58

confidence to do it. do stupid things on

16:00

the internet. But let me give

16:02

you some of that with Podia. Because Podia

16:05

has a website builder. They can host and

16:07

sell online courses or digital downloads. You can

16:09

distribute your email marketing and run your online

16:12

community. So much for you in one stop.

16:16

Plus, it's easy to set up

16:18

and edit and design yourself. No

16:20

tech expert required. So what are

16:22

you waiting for? Go set

16:24

it all up in one place. And

16:27

not only is everything in one place with

16:29

one login, you don't have to figure out

16:31

how to use or connect a bunch of

16:33

tools. It all just works. And it all

16:35

just works together. Podia also starts

16:37

at the best price, free. You

16:40

can start a community, build

16:43

a full website, make your

16:45

products, and start your email

16:47

marketing all for free when

16:50

you sign up at podia.com/schmanners.

16:52

That's podia.com/schmanners. Folks,

16:57

we get it. Keeping up with an actual

16:59

play podcast in this economy is a tough

17:01

sell. That's why we have great news for

17:03

you. The Adventure Zone is changing up its

17:05

format. We're going to be doing some shorter

17:07

seasons, more experimental stuff. There's never been a

17:09

better time to get on board the zone.

17:11

And if you're sick of listening to our

17:13

voices, we get that too. So we're including

17:16

some guests. On this upcoming one,

17:18

we've got Kate Welch and Gabe Hicks, who are

17:20

incredible. And you want to stress

17:22

new games? You got it. We've got the new

17:24

Marvel Multiverse RPG. We're using that and

17:26

with a really brilliant GM doing it. It's

17:29

that. And what he's saying is it's that.

17:31

It's that doing it. It's that doing it.

17:33

You can listen every Thursday on maximumfun.org or

17:35

wherever you get your podcasts. I'm

17:41

glad you said that because nobody says that. Can

17:44

I just say thank you to you for such

17:46

a thoughtful interview? Oh my god,

17:48

yeah. I think you nailed it. Bullseye,

17:50

interviews with creators you love and creators

17:52

you need to know. Listen

17:55

to the Bullseye podcast only from

17:57

NPR and Maximum Fun. Okay,

18:03

when last we left off, the

18:06

Hallmark brothers were about to get

18:08

stupid rich. Yeah, they were. So

18:11

the store was doing great that holiday

18:13

season. Really, really bang up job. Except

18:16

they had run out with several weeks

18:19

to go. They had run out of

18:21

the tissue paper that they were using

18:23

to wrap goods, right?

18:25

So they used toilet paper? No. Okay.

18:29

They dug out some of their

18:31

other stationary supplies, French

18:34

paper lining. That

18:37

sounds fancy. So if you've ever received

18:39

a beautiful envelope, the

18:42

envelope on the outside is

18:44

very utilitarian, right? It's to keep

18:46

everything together. Sure. But

18:48

on the inside of the envelope, you

18:50

often find this very thin printed paper.

18:54

It can be kind of waxy

18:56

almost, right? And that is

18:58

the liner. And

19:01

at this point, they were

19:03

using French liner. So

19:06

they were like, this is what

19:08

we got. This is what we

19:10

got. Deal with it. This might work. So

19:12

they set out a stack of it next

19:14

to the register, charged 10 cents apiece, which

19:18

was about two

19:20

and a half dollars, right? And

19:24

so the customers, they loved it. They

19:27

loved all of the different patterns. They

19:30

loved the way that it made like

19:32

it was easy to fold.

19:35

It was very thin, but it

19:37

was very sturdy because it was

19:39

often kind of waxy, right? Yeah.

19:43

And so they were like, this is

19:45

perfect. This really works. By

19:48

the 1830s, they had added ribbons

19:50

to their store. And

19:54

I mean, it just kept going. By

19:56

1958, they produced a promo. film

20:00

called the art of gift

20:02

wrapping. This

20:05

is amazing, this next fact. The

20:09

person who starred in this video was

20:12

Kay King. Okay.

20:15

Except Kay King

20:17

did not exist. Oh, it

20:20

was a woman made of wrapping paper. Well, no.

20:22

Oh. It was a persona, right?

20:25

There were dozens of Kay Kings.

20:27

They employed women, told them all

20:29

to say their name was Kay

20:31

King, and they started

20:34

hiring them out as gift stylists,

20:36

right? They're out of town. When

20:39

Alex was researching

20:41

this, she sent me

20:43

a meme of Judy. Do

20:45

you remember Judy from Avatar?

20:47

Yeah. Yes. In the

20:50

Earth Kingdom, Judy was the

20:52

kind of concierge, right? Yes.

20:54

But there was no one Judy.

20:56

Yes. There was an

20:58

army of Judas. Uh-huh. Right?

21:01

That was Kay King. Okay.

21:03

So they would work for

21:05

like six months a year

21:08

doing things like, okay, so

21:10

they would give like demonstrations,

21:12

they would judge contests. People

21:14

would put out like newspaper

21:17

advertisements of, you

21:20

know, like co-sponsoring the events

21:22

and signups. And they had

21:24

categories for like most beautiful,

21:26

most difficult, most clever or

21:29

unusual wrapping, right? Amazing. It

21:31

is amazing. And these, they,

21:33

that popped up all over the

21:35

country. It made Hallmark kind of like

21:38

a household name everywhere. Speaking of, can

21:40

I tell you what? It's just occurred to me

21:42

in all my years of

21:44

hearing Hallmark, never

21:46

connected. Like they used to

21:48

be a stationary store. So it would be like

21:51

you were buying paper with the

21:54

Hallmark, right? That this is like

21:57

paper from, that has a Hallmark,

21:59

because it's they're the Hall brothers, right?

22:01

And it's like, this is a mark of quality, a

22:03

hallmark. It's always just like, it's Hallmark, you know,

22:05

hallmark. It's Hallmark, like it was

22:07

always just, I've never thought about the origin of

22:09

the name before in my entire

22:12

life. And surprisingly, I never will again. I'm

22:14

gonna think about it right now, and

22:16

then it will be gone from my brain by the time

22:18

we finish recording. Okay, that's

22:21

all I ask for. Okay. So then, by the

22:23

1970s, it was estimated that

22:26

over 2,000 viewers

22:29

had seen one of the pretty

22:31

miracles, quote, on television of K.

22:33

King styling paper. And

22:37

her message was simple. It's not

22:39

what you give, but how you give,

22:41

attractive and exciting gifts are doubly appealing

22:43

and doubly appreciated. It's not what you

22:45

give. I know,

22:47

right? Okay, uh-huh, all right. Also, I'd love

22:50

if this was like now, because I'd love

22:52

to watch the TikToks of like, is it

22:54

just me? Or have you guys noticed, I

22:56

think there's more than one K. King. Look

22:58

at this video clip. So,

23:02

one estimate says that we now spend as

23:04

much as $2.6 billion annually on

23:09

shiny paper, bows, boxes, and

23:11

tags. In the billions? I

23:14

know, in Britain, one estimate showed that every

23:16

single year, people use up

23:18

to 226,800 miles of wrapping

23:20

paper over the holidays. Wow.

23:27

That's enough to wrap the entire world nine times

23:29

with a little bit left over. I'm

23:32

also willing to bet, and I haven't looked

23:34

into it, but I've been

23:36

using wrapping paper and unwrapping wrapping paper all

23:38

my life, that the majority

23:40

of that doesn't really recycle well. Correct.

23:44

The majority of it doesn't. And

23:46

there are critics who would say

23:48

that it's too expensive and too

23:50

wasteful and too impractical, really. But

23:56

it is kind of art, right?

23:58

It can be. something

24:01

that really creates a

24:03

feeling in a room, a beautifully

24:05

wrapped gift under the tree is

24:08

a lot nicer to look at than a

24:10

tree, a gift in

24:12

like crumbled tissue. I mean, right? Absolutely.

24:15

I think that this is a lot of

24:18

like the conversation of

24:20

like when you talk about

24:22

like recycling and conservation and reusing and all that

24:24

stuff, it's like how much can we as individuals

24:26

do, I bet you weren't expecting to hear this

24:29

in this episode, how much can

24:31

we as individuals do when there are like

24:33

corporations and factories and stuff who aren't doing

24:35

it. So I'm not saying clearly

24:38

wrapping paper is evil and we all need

24:40

to stop using wrapping paper. It's just a

24:42

certain amount of like mindfulness, you know what I

24:44

mean? That I agree with. So

24:47

let's continue that as we talk about

24:49

the etiquette. Sure, yes please. So one

24:52

of the things that you can do is

24:55

you can purchase recyclable paper. Here

24:57

are some ways to spot it

24:59

if it's not particularly

25:01

like on the wrap or

25:03

whatever. Anything- If

25:05

it's not labeled as such. Right, if it's not

25:07

labeled as recyclable. If it

25:10

has foil, if it

25:12

is coated in plastic, like

25:15

super shiny, right? If

25:17

it has any kind of glitter on it, it is explicitly

25:20

not recyclable. Okay.

25:24

But one

25:26

way to recycle is to reduce

25:28

your waste, right? So some of

25:30

these papers, these particularly like plastic,

25:32

like Mylar papers, if

25:35

unwrapped delicately can be reused.

25:38

And that's the trade-off, right? If

25:40

you find the very kind of

25:42

like thin paper that isn't

25:44

shiny, that

25:47

is recyclable, it's almost difficult to

25:49

hold on to, right? It's not really

25:52

durable enough. Even if you could unwrap it

25:54

carefully to be reusable the next

25:56

year, right? How would

25:58

you store it carefully? Yeah. for

28:00

our family, for you

28:02

and I. We often exchange gifts that are wrapped

28:04

in that. And it's not, because we have a

28:06

lot of little ones, where it's like, oh,

28:09

here's a little box or something that's going in

28:11

the stockings, right? And it's like, it's like four

28:13

inches by four inches, right? It's like the amount

28:15

you'd have to cut out of a roll

28:18

of wrapping paper would be more wasteful. And

28:20

it just is like, oh, it's in a

28:22

little stretchy bag. That is great.

28:24

Right. So if

28:26

you are doing the wrapping, which

28:29

I like to do, here's

28:32

some tips. Do

28:35

you have a clear, specific

28:37

workspace? I do

28:40

not prefer the floor. I like a

28:42

table or a counter. Some people prefer the floor.

28:45

I would caution against using a bed, because

28:48

you are using scissors, and you

28:50

might hook that quilt. Sure. You

28:53

don't want to cut those up. No.

28:56

Once you've decided to use your bedding

28:58

for wrapping, then I guess. Yeah. But

29:02

if you have a sewer in your

29:04

family, there

29:07

are some hard plastic mats you

29:09

can put down. What

29:11

you have is a bed or carpet. You

29:13

could also always go to the hardware store

29:15

and get it like a two foot by

29:18

four foot, like half inch plywood or something,

29:20

and create a stable service wherever. Sure,

29:22

absolutely. There

29:25

are those who recommend that you

29:27

have two scissors, one

29:30

pair for paper, that you can

29:32

keep very, very sharp, and the

29:34

other pair for ribbons, right, that

29:36

often have, I mean, they're fabric-y,

29:38

right? They might also have, if

29:40

they have wires in them for

29:43

styling, or maybe they're yarn ribbons, and

29:45

they can get kind of fuzzy, or

29:47

things like that, right? But

29:49

I do suggest that you have those scissors

29:52

and make sure that they're sharp. That

29:54

is one of the things that is going to Give you a

29:56

beautiful piece of wrapping paper to work with.

30:00

the give you that nice and of you can get

30:02

a bit sorry them and as run afford i get

30:04

that light it as as he got off on made

30:06

that. Can always and a fold the

30:08

edges. If you find that they've gotten

30:10

a little raggedy, that's okay too. I'm.

30:13

A. Ends: Make sure. That.

30:16

You get tape that is clear

30:18

that disappears clear You don't want

30:20

that like a well paid guide

30:23

them like per. Yep. This

30:25

smoky unless it's a look you're going

30:27

for with like washy tape. right?

30:30

Does printed tapes are very pretty. he's

30:32

in his that aren't. Flying Tape

30:34

Electrical tape. That

30:36

on his go after away I. Guess

30:39

I mean packing tape does disappear

30:41

clear which is then. Gave

30:43

them my be overkill year.

30:45

Difficult to use. If

30:48

you use boxes for a

30:50

like differently shaped guess. You

30:54

can always. I. Would say try

30:56

me is the smallest bucks you can

30:58

let his. it's a little bit big.

31:00

you can find a patent with tissue

31:02

paper or is it's for kids. They

31:04

love to say those boxes and narrow

31:06

rattle around feel as yard if you're

31:08

good. You really only means

31:11

three pieces. Of tape Not here we

31:13

go and I know it was. I mean.

31:15

So. When. You are

31:17

wrapping a box. The. First piece

31:19

of tape is to connect. The.

31:22

The first. Roll. Over

31:25

to the second one, or a while back it up.

31:27

And then the second piece of tape. this

31:30

for the second side. After you've folded.

31:32

In the corners and folded up the

31:34

top. you put that second piece of

31:36

tape right in the middle and your

31:38

folds if they're nice and crisp and

31:40

he's left enough paper will stick inside

31:43

way and then the third. Piece is

31:45

for the other end of go. Or

31:48

you just put a bunch of days. Ago

31:51

And my God you know to mean. There

31:54

there are lots of ways to decorate. I

31:56

do recommend that as you are using a

31:58

ribbon you cross the. been over on

32:00

the top and cover

32:03

that fabric bulge

32:05

with your bow instead of doing it on

32:07

the bottom because then it won't sit flat.

32:12

I wouldn't stack gifts up and down like that,

32:14

but you can

32:16

make a kind of brick pattern

32:19

with gifts. Sorry, the

32:21

way that you're looking at it... No, you're

32:23

just very cute. I

32:26

just kind of show them under the tree. Yeah.

32:29

Listen, there are things I care about, there are things

32:31

I don't. There are things you care about, things you

32:33

don't. And they don't always overlap, and that's marriage and

32:36

that's fine. But here's the

32:38

thing about the wrapping, right? You

32:40

can use fabric. You can use

32:43

bags. You can use reprinted or

32:45

pre-printed boxes, things like that. You

32:47

can use newspaper if you want to. Sure. I

32:51

used to love getting gifts that were wrapped in Sunday

32:53

Funnies. But

32:56

if the wrapping is reusable, the

32:58

general rule is that the

33:00

person who receives the gifts keeps

33:02

the wrapping. Yes. I'm trying

33:05

to... If you want paper reusable, don't give it to

33:07

kids. Yeah. Give it to kids. They're

33:09

going to tear it because they're kids, they're children.

33:11

I do a little round up after

33:14

everyone has opened their gifts and take

33:16

back my reusable

33:19

bags, the fabric-y,

33:21

stretchy ones, after

33:23

everyone has abandoned their piles.

33:27

And that's with my family. I

33:30

would not recommend, if

33:32

you give someone a gift wrapped in one

33:34

of those, that you stick around and wait for

33:36

them to unwrap it and then take the wrapping.

33:38

Or bug them about it later. It's not like

33:40

a casserole dish or you brought a thing out.

33:42

You give them a bag and then they text

33:44

them, hey, just whenever you can bring that back,

33:47

that would be great. No. You

33:49

could, though, use a gift as

33:51

part of the wrapping, right? If you

33:53

are giving someone... You could add

33:55

to their gift, like, if you

33:57

give them something... that

34:00

you could easily wrap in a tea towel,

34:02

right? A beautiful Christmas tea towel would be a

34:04

great way to do it. Or

34:06

like a scarf, you could easily

34:08

wrap things like a bottle of wine or

34:11

whatever in a scarf and that's part of the

34:13

gift. Or I mean, I've

34:15

even seen some things online

34:17

where people use a hat

34:19

and mittens, right? They put

34:21

the hat on the bottom of the bottle and the

34:23

mitten on the top and then you use the

34:25

other mitten to stuff it inside so that

34:27

the mitten stands up, very cute. I

34:30

love all of that. You're adorable. I

34:32

love that. Thanks. Happy wrapping everyone.

34:34

Don't stay up too late. And

34:37

listen, speaking of wrapping, let's wrap it

34:39

up and say

34:42

thank you to our editor, Rachel, without whom

34:44

we would not be able to make this

34:46

show. Thank you to our researcher, Alex, without

34:48

whom we could not make this show. And

34:50

thank you to you for listening. What would

34:52

we do without you? Sit here in silence,

34:54

yell into the void. Who knows? Thank you

34:57

for not making us face that dark, dark

34:59

reality. We wanna make sure

35:01

you go check out macroymerch.com. We

35:03

got a lot of great stuff over

35:05

there here in December. Well, it'll

35:07

be December by the time you listen to this. We

35:10

also want to encourage you to go to bit.ly

35:13

slash candle nights 2023. That's

35:15

candle nights 2023. And consider

35:18

getting yourself a $5 ticket to

35:20

watch our candle nights special this year,

35:22

benefiting Harmony House in Huntington, West Virginia.

35:24

What else Teresa? We always thank

35:26

Brent, Brentels, Lost Black for writing our theme music,

35:29

which is available as a ringtone where those are

35:31

found. We also thank Bruja

35:33

Betty Pinup Photography for the cover picture

35:35

of our fan run Facebook group, Schmanner's

35:37

Fanners. If you love to give

35:39

and get excellent advice from other fans, go ahead

35:41

and join that group today. Also,

35:44

we are always taking your

35:46

topic submissions, your questions, your

35:48

idioms. Please continue to send

35:50

those to schmannerscast.gmail.com and say

35:52

hi to Alex because she

35:54

reads every one. And that's

35:56

gonna do it for us. So join us again

35:58

next week. No RSVP required. Been listening

36:00

to Schmanner's. Schmanner's Schmanner's. Get

36:03

it? Shh. Shh.

36:25

Maximum fan. A work-around

36:27

network of artist-owned shows. Supported

36:30

directly by you.