Lifetime Center Grove Resident Gets Creative with Her Wrapping Skills
As a young girl, Cinderella John learned the magic of creativity when her mother taught her how to sew. It’s a skill that has served her throughout her life. When she was asked to be in several of her friends’ weddings years ago, her mom wasn’t happy that she had to pay for bridesmaid dresses that would never be worn again.
“When I got married, my mom said she didn’t care how many friends I had in my bridal party, but she told me that I had to make all of their dresses,” John says. “So, I did! I made their dresses, my dress, and dresses for the girls that served the refreshments.”
John, who went on to work as a hairdresser for 54 years, has continued to sew, making custom sweatshirts, Army jackets, and jeans for her members of her family. For instance, one of her daughters loves to go to the Indy 500, so every year John creates a unique pattern for her bellbottom jeans.
“Last year, I put all the different colored flags around the bellbottom part,” she says.
Another one of her daughters is a teacher, so John made Dr. Suess bellbottoms for her.
Eight years ago, John began a new creative venture when she started fashioning unique wrapping for each of the Christmas gifts she gave out. Each design utilizes three boxes because ever since their four children were young, John and her husband had a three-gift rule.
“I didn’t want Christmas to get totally out of hand, so I said everybody was going to receive three gifts because that’s what Jesus got,” John says.
While she admits that sometimes there’s more than one present per box, the three-box rule stands. Therefore, when she came up with the idea to make the presentation of those boxes more decorative and fun, she had to think of designs that incorporated three stacked boxes. The first year she made snowmen for everyone in the family, and that includes children, spouses, grandkids, and great grandkids. This means that every year John makes roughly 32 of these box designs (perhaps a few more if a grandchild invites a girlfriend or boyfriend for the holidays).
John usually glues the boxes together, stacking one on top of the other. For the snowmen, she had a lot of white paper left over, so she printed an 8×10 picture on paper of each of the 15 grandkids and great grandkids.
“I put their eyes, nose, and mouth on a box but didn’t glue anything together,” she says. “They had to find their face, which made it extra fun.”
Each year she browses Pinterest to select a new theme. Past projects have included the Grinch and reindeer. This year she hopes to tackle the Nutcracker, although she admits that’s a tough nut to crack.
“I’ve only done one so far, and I’m not sure it’ll work out,” she says. “They are tricky!”
Because these creations are so time-intensive, John must start on them in early October, making a few each week, in order to be done by Christmas. As she works on them, she tries to keep them hidden to amplify anticipation for the big reveal on Christmas Day.
“That can be hard since we live in a garden home that’s not very big, but it’s okay if the family sees them ahead of time. It’s still fun,” she says.
Not surprisingly, these decorations have become a tradition for the family as they delight in seeing the exterior packaging as much as they do the gift itself.
“I’ve been so blessed with my life,” John says. “I grew up in a great family in the best of times.”
Speaking of family, John has long ties to Center Grove. She, along with her parents, grandparents, and great-great uncle Paschal Earl Dorrell, are all alumni of Center Grove High School. Uncle Paschal was one of four students in Center Grove High School’s first graduating class in 1888.
Given that a creative mind cannot sit still, John is currently thinking up her next project.
“I thoroughly enjoy making things,” she says. “Crafting is so much fun.”
