I received my gift a few days ago, but it was actually several gifts, two of which were intended to be used to make things. I wanted to actually show these wonderful gifts being put to use as a proper thank you, so here it is!

The first thing I saw in the box was a huge jar of Milkbone dog treats, so I immediately knew this Santa was my kind of people. As you can see by the pictures, the boys love them!

The second was "Mega Mini Cross Stith" by Makoto Oozu, which is full of tiny cross stitch motifs. I love cross stitch and I was immediately intrigued since this isn't really something I'd normally buy myself. I tend toward these massively complicated patterns that take weeks or months to complete, and sometimes by the end of them I'm sick of looking at it. Flipping through this book I immediately came up with some ideas and went and did one (using some fabric sent to me by another awesome Santa in a previous exchange). It was so refreshing to start and finish a project in such a small amount of time. I was then inspired to make a frame for it in the shop, another simple project where I usually overdo it. The ultimate result is hanging in my office, and I just love it. This book is going to be a lifesaver between big projects, and I love it!

Finally, Santa gave me "The Big Book of Weekend Woodworking: 150 Easy Projects", a massive tome full of interesting projects, some of which are basic projects I've wanted to build but couldn't find a good plan for, and many, many more that I didn't know I wanted to build. In the same vein as the cross stitch book, this was just the inspiration I needed to continue to develop my skills with quick projects that allow me to challenge myself a little. The way the plans are shown in the book are with very basic joinery that anyone can do, but are designed in such a way that you can use more advanced joinery if you wish, and I really like having that option. A wall sconce jumped out at me so I decided to build that first, and I was very happy with the result. I built it out of cherry wood with both hand and power tools and, like with every project I build at this stage in my skills, I learned a ton of useful things in building it.

All three of these gifts were absolutely perfect. They made the yard wolves happy and the two books have already provided a lot of enjoyment and will definitely keep giving me that for months to come. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift, Santa!