SMC Weekend Accomplishments - Christmas Edition

[Dennis Peacock]

26 Dec 2011

Good Morning and Happy Holiday Season to each of you,
Today I sit in memory of my dad who passed away just a bit over 3 months ago. It's been a hard Christmas for us being without both my dad and my father-in-law. There are many others that I miss as well and I guess through all of this, this has made my heart realize many things as well as learn many things. I guess you could say that I'm gaining true wisdom through all of this and I pray that I never waist the wisdom and knowledge that I have learned.

We did celebrate good food, family, and friends and gift exchange was good. The most important of all of these is to spend the time with family.

I hope that all of you had a good time with family and friends this Christmas holiday season. If you are one of the ones that still has to travel back home yet, I hope that your journey will be a safe one.

Stay warm, stay safe, and let's see some of those Christmas gifts you got!!!

That's it for me, so what did YOU do/get this Christmas holiday weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Rob Holcomb]

Happy Holiday Season to you too Dennis! I'm sorry to learn of your Dad's passing. This Christmas was a little somber and also put things into perspective as we spent Christmas Eve with my Brother-in-Law and his family. Usually we spend Christmas Eve with my side of the family but he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer earlier this year and this may be his last so we wanted to be with him this year. Christmas Day, my wife, son and I had our traditional Christmas morning at home and then spent the afternoon with my Mother-in-Law who is in a nursing home following a bad stroke. Although I was very happy to receive some very nice woodworking tools and other items I had a difficult time showing a lot of excitement with the circumstances our family is going through. I'd give up my passion in life of woodworking in an instant to have things different but God has a plan for all of us. Anyway, here is a pic of what I received this year.

http://www.robholcomb.com/xmasgifts.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, I'm sure that your dad and FIL would be happiest if you smile about and celebrate their memory for Christmas...while they are physically gone, they will always be with you.

This weekend was not hugely different than a normal weekend with horsie time on Saturday, etc., Christmas day, there was the usual frolic under the tree and a nice family dinner later in the day. The girls enjoyed their gifts, as did the creatures...Tosca truly loves her traditional Christmas roll of TP, as you can see...simple sometimes is best!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/a-j-adopt/Christmas 2011/Chr-2011-41.jpg

I've taken the week off and will be doing a whole lot of different things, but I'm hoping to get some shop time in as part of those activities, too.

[Neil Brooks]

Dennis: I'll offer the cliche ....

The first holidays and birthdays, without the departed, are very tough. I try to remember the good and the joy they brought to my life, but ... it's hard not to feel the loss.

Great weekend with my brother and sister-in-law, and her kids/grandkids. My brother is a woodworker, so ... apart from eating and drinking too much ... we just talked shop throughout the whole weekend. I'm pretty sure we solved all the world's woodworking problems, along the way :)

Happy Holidays to all !

[Jason Neal]

Completed my first bandsaw box, a mother-child design as a gift to my wife. I'm not very experienced doing curved work and there was a lot of hand sanding but she likes it so it was all worth it!

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[Matt Meiser]

We finished up "Christmas Week". One of my out-of-town brothers and his family arrived late last Sunday night and the other and his family arrived on Wednesday in time for dinner. Wednesday was the last day of school so my wife and I took off Thursday and had Friday off. We pretty much spent all that time over at my parents' visiting everyone. Friday afternoon was our prime rib dinner and gift exchange. Saturday was my wife's family Christmas and Saturday evening we went to "midnight" mass at 9PM (can someone explain this--even my brother the Brother really didn't explain it to me????) to hear him sing in the choir. Sunday was actually pretty laid back--we unwrapped gifts then went over to my mom and dad's again for a more casual dinner with my parents and 2 of my brothers, and my wife's mom and brother. My wife caught whatever everyone was passing around all week so we ended up back home by early evening. Not wanting to sit around and watch TV, I called up my friend who was selling me the shaper and my daughter and I headed up to his house and picked that up and visit for a bit--he's single and his family Christmas was Saturday so I think he was pleased to have visitors.

I must have been good this year as I was treated well. Mom and Dad got me a Lee Valley straight edge, my wife and daughter got me a cleanup kit for my Festool vac, a set of parallel guides for my Festool saw, and an edge guide for my router. "Santa" brought me a small Keurig machine for my shop which will go nice with the stainless steel mug my local Woodcraft sent me for winning an impromptu Facebook contest they had last week.

We all had today off too. We hit Menards so LOML could pick up some of the clearance wrapping paper, etc. and a few supplies I needed, had lunch, the girls went to a movie while I hung out around Woodcraft, and then we hit Costco and the grocery store.

[David Hostetler]

Spent too much time at the last minute gift shopping, wrapping, and prepping the Christmas dinner. Got to spend some time with LOML, but not nearly enough. House too full to enjoy much alone time you know?

Gift exchange was a lot of fun, scored a Fore plane, and a Jointer plane this year. Need to set up the granite slab to lap the sole and hone the blades... Everything looks like they are dead on except the blades are dull, shouldn't take more than 10 minutes per plane to finish tuning them...

Was off work yesterday, went to Old Town Spring to do some post Christmas shopping for some stuff from the Amish Barn. They were closed... Rats...

[Shawn Pixley]

Good weekend. Saturday was spent prepping for Christmas dinner. We ended up with three more guests than anticipated so we neede to scramble to ensure enough "feastage." Brined the turkey, made pies, and wrapping presents. Sunday we prepared and devoured the feast. Yesterday was the best. Leftovers and such. Spent the afternoon dressing the anvil. LOML wants to use it today to do some folding work. If you think lapping a plane sole is tedious try lapping an anvil. It is now down to having a couple divots 1-3 thousanths of on the face. Not the worst job, but I feel it this morning.