Scrooge or Santa’s helper? My pre-Christmas mood swings between bah-humbug and happy industry. Buying stuff can send me into ethical, financial quandries, but wrapping stuff? I can handle that. The complicated origami of neatly packaging a basketball? Bring it on.

Stamping gift tags is another merry, mindless task for me. I made these stamps (cut out of foam) years ago, and I love digging them out every year. This year, I found a date stamp (the most recent year on it is 2007)–and put that to work, too.

. . . Merry Christmas, everyone!