OH how I love Christmas! I also enjoy birthdays, anniversaries, Father's
Day, Groundhog day or any other day that I can make an excuse up so my loved
ones can show thier love and generosity!

Christmas definitely helps them exhibit the summit of their love for me!

I had no idea that I was even going to get a single toy for Christmas...(I
left plenty of catalogs and other hints lying around for the last 3 months!)
but how exciting it was for me to shake, nudge, measure, etc every box that
was under the tree! When it was all said and done, I came away with a
pretty amazing haul! (Oh my wife got her share of goodies too)

The big present was the One Way Bowl Coring System!
A Square nosed scraper (which I am going to regrind to be a square ended
skew)
A One Way Curved tool rest for bowl turning
A fancy Hardwood Tool Chest for my carving and hand tools
A nifty carbide sharpener/burnisher
A Badger Hair Finishing Brush
A Skew Brush for solvents
A stick of Black Ebony
A stick of Olive from Israel
A spear point handpiece for my woodburner
A few other chunks of wood
(by the way, I have a pretty large family - so one gift from almost
everyone makes the list look big)

But the best gift of the year was and is...

My beautiful daughter - who is now 5 months old! She did not know what was
going on, but she loved all of the ribbons, crinkly wrapping paper and all
of the lights!

What a wonderful Christmas - not because of the things I got, but because of
the love we all shared and the wonderful memories we have of this first
Christmas for our daughter!

I hope you all also had a wonderful time making deposits into your memory
banks and gathering additional toys!

Merry Christmas!

Ray Sandusky
Brentwood, Tennessee, USA

"Ray Sandusky" wrote in message

But the best gift of the year was and is...

My beautiful daughter - who is now 5 months old! She did not know what
was going on, but she loved all of the ribbons, crinkly wrapping paper and
all of the lights!

What a wonderful Christmas - not because of the things I got, but because
of the love we all shared and the wonderful memories we have of this first
Christmas for our daughter!

You're a most fortunate fellow, Ray. Nothing quite equals the joy of
children. My 2yo and 3mo. old grandsons made this Christmas even better
than the last, and I thought that one couldn't be topped. Sounds as if
we're both blessed.

Max