The trouble with Japan is....

Anyone who lives a long way away from their families is/was probably facing the same problem as I was last night - how do you get your Christmas presents delivered safely to the other side of the world in time for Christmas? The answer to the "in time" bit is that you should be a lot more organised than me and have all your Christmas presents ready for your father to take back with him when he comes to visit in October.... (maybe next year). But when that fails just hope that the Japanese postal system is as efficient as usual and that they will arrive on time. Of course I have to keep my fingers crossed a little more as I always end up sending them the cheap SAL way... (Surface Air Lifted for those who are not familiar with cheap ways of sending things... it means that they put it on the plane whenever there is room and therefore can't guarantee the speed - never had a problem so far....).
The second part of the problem is always how to send the presents "safely" - ie the packaging. This year I decided to attempt to solve this problem while also trying to save the world through recycling and also incorporate the Chinese Zodiac. That's right... I used milk cartons (next year is the year of the bull.. okay, so they don't produce milk, but their mothers did) and plastic drink bottles. A word to anyone who may receive one of these presents... this is the wrapping... so don't take it out until Christmas day - if you can find you way into it that is!
Perhaps we could have a "recycling wrapping" competition.... anybody got an idea of how to use
six million margarine and yoghurt containers???