While I was growing up I (along with my brothers and sisters) spent quite a bit of time puttering about the workshop while my Dad was building this or that. He made bunk beds, dining room table benches, bookshelves, tables, kitchen cabinets, toys, etc.…and we made blocks from the scraps that fell from the table saw, mini forts and tunnels in the piles of sawdust, hammered huge nails into scrap bits of wood to join them together into who-knows-what! And just spent time with our Dad and learned to love wood in all its possibilities as he learned to love it from my Grandpa. It really was a huge part of our childhood, a legacy in fact, as each of us still works with wood in our own ways. Two of my brothers built a home from scratch using a First Day Cottage kit, my other brother among many other woodworking adventures spent time restoring historic wooden carousels, and my sisters make and restore small furniture and make items to beautify their homes,…and me…well, you never quite know what I’ll be making or doing next in the shop!
While I was in the workshop with my Dad during one of those cozy woodworking afternoons of my childhood I gathered several pieces of scrap wood from what he was cutting. To me they were not just scraps of wood, they looked just like little houses and trees…so that is what they became for me.
When my Dad saw what I was doing he cut some pieces specifically for me. I found my markers and decorated them and played and played. That little village was one of my very first woodworking projects and became one of my parents most treasured Christmas decorations.
This year…my own little girl worked with her own amazing Dad and gathered, cut, sanded (this is where the belt sander came in!!), designed, and decorated a village for me. Along with houses and trees she made a church and a temple, and a few bridges. It immediately became one of my most treasured possessions. It’s pieces stand on the window frame over two of the windows in my bedroom and bring me such joy each time I see them. 
Yes Dad, it was a legacy indeed. Thank you.
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