Gift giver extraordinaire

My dad has evolved as a gift giver over the years.  When we were kids, he would ask "What did you get?!?" as we opened each gift.  We knew our gifts were technically from him and mom, but we also knew he didn't do any of the shopping.  I wonder how many dads DO participate in the buying of Barbies and bigwheels, Cabbage Patch dolls and cradles.

Well, as I approached adulthood, perhaps when I was in college, dad started getting us "dad gifts."  One year I got a new set of hubcaps, since my car only had three (you know you're a country girl when...).  Another year it was floor mats for my car.  The first year I lived in my own apartment, he bought me a toolbox with some basic tools (because it drove him CRAZY when he needed to fix something at my house and I couldn't find a screwdriver or wrench).

I guess he was running out of ideas or just wanted to take things to the next level.  One of the first years I was married, he wrapped a pick axe.  The shape was obvious.  I was dumbfounded.  He sat there with a smirk on his face as Patrick and I unwrapped an antique pick axe.  I tried to be appreciative, but I really didn't get it.  Turns out it was his way of giving us a gift card to his favorite restaurant, Tony's Mining Company....and he wanted the pick axe back.  The next year, he made me a birdhouse.  I had to rip open the top of the birdhouse to get my gift (a gift card to The Bluebird Inn).  It didn't take him a long time to make it.  I wasn't supposed to keep it.  It was just a creative way to give his gift.  Well, this has now become a tradition, and dad's gift is one of my favorites to open.  This was my gift this year...

He traced his own feet for a template and then cut them out of scrap wood.  He painted the toes and put them in flip flops.  The writing says, "Happy toes" and the other, "To Lynn, Merry Christmas, GN" (dad's initials).  I'm getting a pedicure!  Thanks for your thoughtfulness and creativity, dad...I LOVE IT!