un-wrapped

I think the wrapping of presents is a grand metaphor for the basic futility of life. You spend so much time wrassling with paper and tape and ribbon, tucking in all the corners so nobody can see the unattractive white side, writing to: and from: tags, only to have all your work undone in three or four seconds. Then, you repeat the whole process next season. It's sort of an absurdist activity--I bet Camus would have mentioned gift wrap in The Stranger, if anyone had ever liked him enough to give him presents.