This story makes me wonder what people remember as the BEST gift they ever got. For me, it was this huge, spring-operated wooden horse that my dad made us one year for Christmas. We called it the "Trojan Horse." My mom made a saddle and bridle for it. We actually had to stand on a box to get onto the thing and it sprang so far forward and back my mom was always afraid we were going to fly right off of it if we went too fast and break our necks. It was the most fun EVER, and it lasted about a year until the spring broke and caused one of my friends to fall off, and my mom made my dad dismantle it.

I have been asking my mom for years where my dad got the plans for it because I really want to make one for my kids, but she refuses to tell me on the basis of concern for everyone's safety. Secretly, I think she's afraid I'm going to build one that is large enough for me to ride. And she's right. I would. That thing was freaking awesome.