A Sense of Accomplishment

This post might have been better if published before Christmas, but then some family members might have had their surprise spoiled. If you continue reading, you'll have to bear with the Christmas retrospective. You've been warned.

There seems to be a progression in gift giving that goes on through childhood. Initially very young children are included by default in family gift giving. Then they start to give gifts, usually priceless artwork that they've created themselves. At some later point "store bought" gifts creep in, eventually eclipsing all personal creations, even including greeting cards. A rather accelerated timeline, but essentially accurate for many families.

For individuals that have a particular skill that they develop and practice, acquired either through or after childhood, personally created gifts can take on a whole new meaning. Such is the case with our youngest son this Christmas. We've done a number of wood working projects in the last few years. We started out small, with projects of limited size and scope - and the tools they required. Some have required no more than a saw and a drill, others quite a few more. Some were rough carpentry and others finished table pieces. Needless to say, as with any new experience, some mistakes were made - even necessary for learning opportunities.

Sizing of the project, particulary the duration required for completion has also an important element of our journey. One that was created from raw lumber turned out to be too large in scope and the interest was lost. One purchased partially assembled (!) as a mostly stain and finish project that turned out to be not enough action and interest was lost. So this Christmas was a restart of sorts for a start to finish project.

Going down the list family members that, it was decided that a lap desk was the perfect gift for several. We have several around the house (all purchased), with one in particular that everyone chooses first. It was selected as the model for our project. As simple as it was, it was the perfect scope to get in a little of everything in a wood working project. Pilot measurements, cut patterns, wood selection, saw selection, sanding methods, stain preferences, finishing treatments - we got in a little of each. Manual tools, power tools, rags, brushes were all used and understood for their proper purpose. Differences in grain and hardness of various woods such as ash, pine, alder and red oak were learned (we choose the latter). Design and budget choices were even considered when a fancier, slightly more expensive molding was selected for the book rest. There probably isn't anything we didn't touch at some level.

Interest was held throughout the project, four or five separate work sessions I believe. Each stage had new challenges, opportunities and visible progress. And a growing sense of accomplishment. Here's one of the light stained final products with the young woodworker and the recipient. That was another selection point, who got natural oak and who got the Provincial stain. In the end, as you can see, everyone was happy with the result.



So don't infer any deep statements here about commercialism of Christmas or the value of gifts from this post, neither are intended. This is a simple reflection on the observed pride of accomplishment achieved by creation. And a little fatherly bragging. I'm proud of our son for what he accomplished and to have been a part of helping him achieve it.

We're looking forward to many more projects together!