As you put cookies out for Santa Christmas Eve, be sure to get bandages and hydrogen peroxide ready, too.
Opening presents on Christmas morning, trying to extract toys and gadgets from their packaging, can turn a jolly old elf into Ebenezer Scrooge faster than you can say "Bah, humbug!"
Companies from Mattel to Amazon have been working to reduce the hard plastic and other materials which entomb gifts, but the problem persists.
The American Medical Association has even given it a name: wrap rage.
Two years ago, it spoke to doctors about this national holiday crisis. People turn up in the ER on Christmas day to be treated for lacerations and puncture wounds...just for attempting to free a doll. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says 6,000 people need medical attention every year due to packaging attacks, and that doesn't count the self-inflicted injuries trying to break through the plastic with scissors or a knife.
"That clamshell packaging is absolutely diabolical," said one doctor.
So brace yourself for Saturday morning. Try to remember that Christmas isn't about toys.
It's about overcoming the packaging without drawing blood--a potential Christmas miracle.
Here's singer Sara Groves' funny take on the dilemma. Been there, done that.
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