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Some of the presents I’ve received from years past: painting on an offcut by my grandpa, a pair of Shaker bench brooms (one for everyday use and one for special occasions) by my uncle, and a 20″-wide barn board from my grandma’s stash.
As the leaves turn and the nights get cooler, I know woodworking season is approaching. Yes, I do spend as much time in the shop as I can, but the warmer summer months mean mowing, trips to the cabin and preparing my house for the onslaught of Minnesota winter. But once those leaves are raked, it’s prime woodworking time. And it’s a good thing, too, because there are gifts to make.
My mom’s side of the family exchanges homemade gifts, and it’s one of our longest-standing family traditions. I’m not entirely sure of the origin, but I know that each Christmas, after dinner, everyone gathers in a big circle and exchanges homemade presents. Or at least that’s how it’s happened for the last 34 years. Three generations of family give and get handmade presents.
There are choruses of “Oh my! You made that?” And gasps of “Oooh, that’s so cute!” Followed by “I hope she gets my name next year.” It’s a fun tradition and a couple hours of surprise and delight. Then almost immediately, names are drawn for the exchange next year. The thought is, you take off between Christmas and New Years, then January 1, you start working on your gift for next year’s exchange. At least that’s what I’m told.
It helps to come from a crafty family—there’s plenty of knitting, sewing, baking, weaving, basketry and lots of “cools things I found in the woods.” Not to mention my favorite: woodworking.
The matriarch of the family, my grandma, loves woodworking. She has a penchant for barn boards in particular (going back at least seven decades), and she keeps an ample stash in her shop. I love hearing her stories about the things she’s made, where they ended up, how she got the materials, what went wrong and the hijinks that happened along the way. Even though she’s now well into her 90s and her doctors have advised against wield- ing mallets and chisels, she still has the stories.
For me, that’s one of the best parts about making things for other people. It’s not just an object. It’s a vehicle for sharing and telling a story. It’s a way to show someone just how much you care about them.
So I’m looking forward to spending the next couple months in the shop, starting my finishing up my gift for the Christmas exchange, and sharing the experience and trials and tribulations with my family.
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You’re one lucky dude.