A long time ago, I remember seeing a present wrapped in a common brown paper bag transformed into a reindeer. Then I made the mistake of watching a Martha Stewart Christmas Special where she took pieces of colored tulle and gathered, wrapped, and wound them around gifts. I was hooked. It's not just the gift that counts, but how it's wrapped. Long gone are the days of plain Christmas paper and stick-on labels and bows. No, now they have to be a work of art, at least in theory. Each holiday season I begin with high expectations of Martha Stewart-worthy presentations, but usually end up with some odd-colored paper adorned with gaudy ribbon. Can it still be the thought that counts?

I began collecting my yearly high expectations again at Pittsford Community Library's "Artful Gift-Wrapping" workshop. As I huddled in the chill of the space-heater-warmed room -- the heating was being repaired -- I learned about crisp corners, seamless wrapping, and embellishments. Who knew so much could be done with plain newsprint and tissue paper! The newsprint was spray painted, stenciled, and hand painted, while the tissue paper was folded, glued, and ripped. Together they made wrappings more worthy than the presents they would probably contain.

Then we moved on to less common wrapping materials: dishtowels, napkins (even the paper ones), calendars, maps, wallpaper. And even less common adornments -- potpourri, popcorn, dried fruit, leaves -- and containers (jars, bottles, burlap bags).

It was all quite fun. And even if at the last minute my high expectations take the normal route of falling short, I think the woman forced to attend because of a "family intervention for her to overcome her gift bag reliance" will have passed her first step of recovery.