I have done an awful thing, and I won’t feel good again until I clear my conscience.

Typically, we get a lot of orders in the days leading up to Christmas. This year is no exception. Just now, for example, we got an order. The order called for gift wrap. We’re out of gift wrap. We are heading to Baltimore first thing in the morning and won’t have time to buy gift wrap before we go. And yet, the gift wrapped book must be dropped in the mail on the way out of town. All the stores are closed. All reasonable options had been exhausted.

And so we had to resort to desperate measures. The only gift wrap in the house was in the box of gifts we received from Grandpa John and Grandma Judy, who thoughtfully purchased and wrapped nice things they thought we would enjoy. We sized up the box of gifts and saw one that seemed plenty big enough to provide the paper we needed.

I carefully peeled the label off, cringing when I saw that it was Alden’s Christmas Eve gift from her grandpa and grandma.

The label came off without leaving a trace.

Next, I had to unwrap the thing. Luckily, it was that metallic paper that is less prone to tear when unwrapped.

Clearly the fates were smiling down on us.

Once the paper was removed, the harvest began.

We had more than enough to gift wrap our book. But not quite enough to re-wrap Alden’s present.

I don’t feel good about what I did, but I did what I had to.

Sometimes people ask how we manage to keep our heads on straight with our various child rearing and book making responsibilities. The truth is, our lives are littered with patchwork moments like this one.

What Alden doesn’t know can’t hurt her, right? There’s plenty of time to buy paper and re-wrap her present before Saturday. This is what I tell myself as I go to sleep tonight.

And here’s hoping Grandpa John and Grandma Judy aren’t reading the blog today.