Wrapping paper wrap-up

I wanted to share with you this nice piece of traditional Norwegian
wrapping paper that came with Peg, who you met a couple days ago on
the blog here. What I like about this is the absence of the roly-poly
bearded Santa guy who would be featured on American paper; instead we
have red-capped elves delivering presents and some kind of
cool-looking yak pulling the sleigh.

 (Aside: the red cap or Phrygian cap, is a symbol of liberty dating
back to the ancient Greeks, who would give them to freed slaves. When
the Nazis invaded Norway, they banned traditional red-cap imagery and
illustrators instead turned to alternately colored caps.)

 The other cool thing about the paper is the green-coated fellow who’s
shoveling snow. Hunched over his shovel, having cleared a 50-meter
path all the way from the front door to the road, he pauses for a
break only to encounter some sugar-intoxicated goateed elf careening
down the lane, cackling madly and tossing wrapped packages hither and
thither. His expression says it all: “Jul be back next year, I don’t
doubt it.”