Holiday Gifts, Sitcom Style

Valerie, Cloris, and Mary sharing those beautifully wrapped lids everyone enjoys getting.

There are a few things you have to learn if you want to have a sitcom-approved Christmas celebration. Here the ladies from Mary Tyler Moore illustrate one of my favorite TV tropes -- the quick-to-open gift. Someone figured out a long time ago that it slows down a scene to watch actors rip the wrapping off an entire package, as most of us mere mortals do. So when TV characters give gifts, they take those few extra minutes to wrap the lid separately from the box. That way, everyone can just toss aside that lid, exclaim over the contents of the package, and get on with the story.

In my personal circle of friends and family, I've never seen anyone wrap presents this way. What about you? Is this something that happens only on TV?