My son is digging pirates right now and I am super low on cash, plus, I love to make things...Anyhow, I have made him a pirate treasure chest....used a bankers box that was printed with a fake wood scheme, I used hinges to attach the top and have it come off treasure-chest like. I've added a little latch on the front and a cool coppery looking handle to open it with. I've also covered the inside of the box with this neat metalic contact paper, so when you open it is all shiny. For the inside, I bought this book called Pirateology (check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/yh33eu ), also a doctor suess book called There is a Map in my Lap and have painted him a really neat pirate treasure map on some canvas I have. Needless to say, it is awesome and I have got ants in my pants to see the look on his face when he gets it on X-mas. Anyhow, books, supplies, everything, the whole thing costs about $40 and will provide endless fun and adventure.

So, what cool things have you guys given/gotten?

Best Presents I've Given: Paintings I've worked on for months and given to various members of my family. One is an oil painting of a mountain cabin sitting in a swirling snowstorm. The lights streaming from the cabin are from oil lamps and there's a broken-down wagon in the front yard. My parents kept it hanging above their sofa in their living room. The other is a watercolor of three country mailboxes, standing alone and abandoned, in another snow scene. One of the mailboxes is open and is about to topple over. This one was a gift to my daughter.

Best Presents I've Received: Two airline tickets to Europe, received Christmas 1989 from my sister. I was single then, and she said for me to choose any friend I wished to take with me.

Your present to your son sounds marvelous, lefty. AND I bought the Piratology book for my granddaughter after she and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean. http://tvnewslies.org/phpbb/viewtopic.p ... c&start=15 (second page)

Today, my sister bought my granddaughter the EGYPTOLOGY book from the same publisher. She's going to love that addition to her book collection.

OK, lefty...tell us what happened on Christmas morning when your son got his gift.