Christmas Gifts

This year, I made almost all the Christmas presents I gave to family members. Although I've been as yet unable to deliver the gifts to certain family members in Northbrook, Illinois due to a so-far uncooperative future grandchild, I thought I'd go ahead and post pictures of everything except those gifts. They can be posted later.

I failed to get a picture of the coffee grinder that I made for Mike (Jessica's friend), but here is one like the one I made.


Will and Sandy were able to be with us for a couple of days the weekend before Christmas. Quite a long time ago, Sandy had asked about the feasibility of lining an old chest of hers with cedar. So, I agreed to do that, and because I didn't get it done very soon, it turned into her Christmas present.


In Will's case, I had to repeatedly ask what I could make for him. Finally, he suggested a set of stands for his stereo speakers. I didn't get them stained and varnished in time, but here they are. Will said he would do the finishing, but maybe I'll get that done before we deliver them and Sandy's chest to Minneapolis.


In the case of Kathie's mother, I decided to turn something on my lathe. I made her a shoe horn, using metal parts that I obtained from a woodworking supplier. My contribution was the handle, which I turned from a piece of ebony. The gold-plated hardware made it quite attractive, if I do say so myself. The best part is that she likes it and is using it daily.


For Kathie I made a game called "Shut-the-Box." It is an old "pub game" that involves dice and the goal of turning down the nine digits from 1 to 9 to enable closing the box. Gambling can be involved! I made the box from a wood called bocote, and I made the flippers for the nine digits from nine different woods: oak, blood wood, purple heart, maple, walnut, rosewood, leopard wood, zebra wood, and cocobolo.


Jessica and Travis were able to be with us for the actual Christmas holiday. For Jessica, I made a jewelry box out of walnut. I had a chance to try a couple of new techniques, including using a table saw to make coved pieces for the sides. It has a little tray too that lifts up when you open it. All the hardware is brass, so that dressed it up nicely, along with velvet linings for the "floors" of the box and tray.


Since Travis doesn't yet own have many furnishings for his apartment, I made a floor lamp for him from cherry. It is built with a sliding center post so that it can be made taller or shorter depending on where it is used.


Rob, Carrie and Eleanor were in Chicago for the holiday, but they were able to come out after they got back and before New Years. I had made a "bath pantry" for Rob and Carrie. This was a modification of a plan Rob had spotted some time ago in a Lowe's publication and wanted for a spot in one of their bathrooms in their new home on Ronalds Street.


For Eleanor, I had found a plan for a xylophone fashioned as a cricket pull toy. The mallets can be stored in two holes in the head, so that they look like the cricket's antenna, and the legs hop up and down when you pull the toy across the floor.


When I gave this to Eleanor, her parents threatened to make it their own toy, as you will see in the little video clip below.



Watch this space for a future posting of Betsy's, Pete's, and Henry's gifts, which will be given whenever we receive our summons to Northbrook to meet the new grandbaby, for whom, alas at this point, there is as yet no grandpa-constructed gift.