by Melissa Brown

Created on: February 13, 2010

Once again, we survived Christmas, gift giving, cooking, over-eating, and possibly over imbibing eggnog and other seasonal alcoholic libations.  Adornments of the season have been taken down and packed away.  Christmas shopping will wait, once more, until the approach of the gift giving season in the fall of this new year.  But, I don't want to talk about that right now.  It's too far off, and simply too much to think about.  Beside, I'm busy wondering what's going on in the garage at this moment.  There are buzzing, banging, sawing and sawing sounds.

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 my husband (AKA 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.  I’m 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 the safest 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 he 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  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 over 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...”  I imagined 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

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