November 21st, 2018

Here we are already. It's the day before Thanksgiving.  And even if I didn't know that by my calendar and the monster turkey  and pies taking up room in my fridge, I would know it by today's newspaper.

The part on the right is the part I'm actually going to read.  The part on the left is all ads.  Every single solitary page of that enormous left pile is advertisements that I am not going to read.  I kind of stand there shaking my head whenever I see that Day before Thanksgiving newspaper.  I cannot believe that there are that many stores in this area!  Really kind of a surprise when you see it all added up like that.  And of course each of those shops need to let everyone know about their Post Thanksgiving, Pre-Christmas Sales!

 I do not mind one single bit though. I won't just gathering it all up and heave it  into the recycle bin.   Nope.  But I promise you that it will not go to waste. It all gets saved.  

That weighty pile that hit the ground with a mighty thump this morning when it was delivered will soon be put to good use.  Right now I have about two weeks worth of newspaper stashed in an old plastic bin in the utility room waiting for the upcoming holiday season.

And for what possible purpose, you ask?  Jaunty paper hats perhaps?  Cute little Christmas paper chains to decorate the tree (which isn't up yet anyway)?  Or maybe I'm saving it as Christmas Wrapping paper to be more eco-friendly?  I will not start a fire with it (of course we don't have a fireplace or a firepit either so I'm not sure why that possibility came to mind at all.  A little scary).  Nor am I planning to decoupage anything.  Not serving traditional fish'n'chips either!

Did you run out of guesses yet?  It's packing material.  Newspaper makes awesome packing material for anything that I need to ship. And this is the time of year when I sent more packages then any other.   Lots of boxes leaving this house. Gifts AND cookies.  And it's the cookies more than anything that I use the newspaper for.  I have come to find that it is just about the perfect packing material.

I can layer just flat folds of it to protect the bottom and sides of a box.  I can squish it into balls and then jam those paper balls into every single crevice known to human kind. Those little paperballs can be morphed into any shape I need.  And the more of them the better!  

A nice lady behind the counter at a UPS store once told me that for protection, every box needs to be filled to overflowing with packing material.  There should be very little "give" on any of the six sides of a cardboard box.  You should have to shove a little bit to properly tape the box closed.  Excellent lesson!

MOST of the cookies I ship arrive safe and sound with very little damage. In fact there have been reports of not only single gingerbread man fatality!  Woohoo!  Clearly, it's working! Yay!  And it's not something I have to go out of my way to purchase.  I already get the newspaper every single day!  AND it's a little more eco-friendly than say, bubble wrap or styrofoam packing peanuts.  Although I will admit that bubble wrap is a lot more fun to play with.

So there you have it.  I'm a secret newspaper hoarder. But only around this time of year.   Who would have thought it?  Me, a secret newspaper hoarder.  Wow!   Ok I'm tired now.   True confessions take a lot out of a person.  I think maybe I need a cookie.

Everyone please have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving Holiday tomorrow.  It matters not how you choose to celebrate it.  I only matter that you celebrate it.  I don't know about you, but I have a TON of things to be thankful for.

​And then I will be taking a few days off to enjoy the lovely long holiday weekend.  See you all back here on Monday!!