Next Christmas ?

[savethebeer]

Anyone else started doing next years pressies? I have and I bet I'm not the only one.

I've a Sister living 2 hours away and a Brother 3 hours away. I did two Steve Good Silent Night displays as pressies for them. Then when I called into them before Christmas I saw that I had given both the same thing two years previously. In each house I broke out laughing when I saw the item hanging on their wall, and then had to apologise and promise a new pressie as soon as I could make one.  They all graciously accepted my apology as they knew they wouldn't be getting a new pressie otherwise.

Then my sister in law said she was thinking of painting the Swibboggen candle arch that I gave her last year. I immeadiately offered to give her a disassembled one so she could paint it much easier, Last years one was finished in BLO so raw wood might allow her better finish. 

I've got one half done in two days, about 16 inches long, 4 mm BBP and stack cut X 2. So I'll have a disassembled one for her next week and I'll put away the other till September when I'll put it together for someone else.  I'll have to do something else for my sister next week.

My new idea surrounding Christmas is to write down what I give people so I don't double up.

1st February is my retirement date. 43 years service in the Airport Fire Service at Dublin airport so it is time to move on. I am going to place the following in my workshop before I leave. I'm going to put a red backer behind 'since Bob left' and black behind the rest and frame it. 

 

One thing I realised this week is how the sawdust behaves in the cold and damp. The sawdust is lifted out of the cut by the blade and sits on the wood along the line. Because I use my saw mainly on half speed the air is not powerfull enough to blow the dust away. I hold a half inch paint brush loosely in my right hand and if I'm doubling back on a thin cut then I have to sweep the brush lightly over the line to clear the build up.

I have done this for a long time and it was only this week that I realised that it is only when temperatures are low that I have to use the brush.

[savethebeer]

Here is another one I've run off for the sister in law this afternoon. Its a wine box that she got for Christmas.

I made the Chateaux below out of the box (which she gave me without the wine) She can have some fun painting it.

It is made from something like Balsa. I tried making a deer or two but the wood does not like being turned into something delicate. 

[ChelCass]

I can never remember what I give as gifts so I got into the habit of taking a picture of the gift, who it went to and on what date.  I keep a file on my computer so I can quickly look see if I have gifted the item before.  Ever Christmas I take pictures of what I give hubby and pictures of what he gives me.  Sooooo much easier.

 

[jollyred]

I started keeping a list of what I gave people in 2004.  It has saved me from duplications many times since then.  It also helps me to remember the ones I can do again for someone else.  

Tom

[Bill WIlson]

I wish I would have kept better track of what I've given over the years.  So far my memory hasn't failed me, but it gets harder every year.

I do have a log of the Christmas ornaments I've given each year, since 1993.  That has proven invaluable.

[barb.j.enders]

I give ornaments to my nieces & nephews.  I had my, very organized sister, provide me a list as she was packing away her ornaments.  The simplest way to not duplicate is cut new ornaments from the current year of the "ornaments for charity" book!!  I do like some of the suggestions above.

[ChelCass]

31 minutes ago, barb.j.enders said:

I give ornaments to my nieces & nephews.  I had my, very organized sister, provide me a list as she was packing away her ornaments.  The simplest way to not duplicate is cut new ornaments from the current year of the "ornaments for charity" book!!  I do like some of the suggestions above.

I cheat I usually make Steve Good's patterns every year, this way I know I am not repeating as the date and name is on them.......................lol

[Bill WIlson]

The pattern selection process is a vital part of my annual routine.  I want to maintain complete autonomy in the selection of which ornament I make each year.  

[wombatie]

I will be starting my Christmas pressies soon, just having a bit of a summer break first.
I always take photos so that I know what I have given, it helps the memory.

Marg