All of the Christmas adornments are taken down and moved up stairs to await their placement in the “Christmas Closet”. This will take the better part of another month to sort through. But I don’t want to talk about that right now, since it’s something I’m procrastinating about….again.
What’s on my mind right now is how wonderfully successful a particular gift was for our Christmas of 2009. I have always known that whenever I’m in doubt as to what to get The Royster for Christmas, I can always go to Sears and pick out some kind of woodworking tool that I know he doesn’t have, and I am very familiar with all the woodworking tools in the garage, because that’s what I’ve been getting him over the past 20 years. I learned right off the bat that Sears is always a safe bet.
This year, I was in a bit of a quandary as to what to get The Royster, even though I was standing in Sears looking at all the wonderful plug-in, buzzing, whirring and grinding Roy Candy, just to get some idea as to what to put under the Christmas tree for him. As my eyes darted around the store they came to rest on a scroll saw; and it dawned on me that a few years ago The Royster would walk over to this particular item and touch it, caress it longingly and drool a little. That was the year that I had already purchased a drill press to put under the tree, so I just forgot about the loving gazes he was bestowing on the scroll saw. When I saw it this year, actually calling to me to have a look, I knew that was the item I would purchase for my hero The Royster, “… while visions of power tools danced in his head...” Try, to imagine the delight on a 58 year old little boy’s face when he opened his new toys on Christmas morning.
I was on target with this gift. The Royster almost hopped up and down clapping his hands with glee, and whooping, “Oh! Goody goody! A scroll saw! A scroll saw!” After a couple of days passed, he had it all set up out in the garage. I could hear the gears turning in his head; ideas of what he was going to make with his new garage toy. As the days passed, there were all kinds of trips to Home Depot and Sears, and lots of noises emanating from the garage; all happy noises. Whirrrrrrrrrr! Buzzzzzzzzzz! Zingggggggg! Grrrrrrrrind, grrrrrrrrind, grrrrrrrrrrrrind! And, sand, sand, sand! There would possibly be refrigerator art and endless show ‘n’ tells forthcoming.
The man-boy has a gift, a real talent for making things out of wood, and furthermore, he loves to do it. I do enjoy seeing him have so much fun out in the garage. He’s made me so many cool things, from a gardening workbench to a recipe book holder for the kitchen counter. He never ceases to amaze me, and he always surprises me.
For his first endeavors with his new scroll saw, he created a number of small, trial things.
The stained glass peace sign was his first deliberate work of art. With the others, he just started zipping away at pieces of wood to get a feel of his new toy. It was sort of like when you see things in the clouds, a cat, dog, etc. He would come in and proudly show me what he’d made.
If he didn’t know what he was trying to make at the time, it somehow took shape ….If it looked like a duck, he called it a duck. We still don’t know what to call the little guy that looks like he’s holding something over his head. Maybe we’ll just call him Atlas. He did photo puzzles with photos on either side, one in color, the other in black and white. Unfortunately he did not take pictures of those before he gave them as gifts to friends, with their very own photos on them.
Last week, he showed me a picture of a 1930 Chevy pickup truck, and disappeared into the depths of his Man Cave. Over the week-end he spent every waking hour in there making something really special. Late on Sunday afternoon, I could smell the distinct odor of wood stain, and I knew that soon there would be a finished product that he would proudly present to me, possibly to display, on the kitchen table or better, in the window of the kitchen for all to see. Finally, on Sunday evening, he emerged with the finished product. He had out-done himself again!
Who knows what lurks in the Man Cave depths that won’t some day be uncovered as a monumental work of art.
