Best Christmas Present Ever

My dad is hard to shop for. My mom is easy: I either ask her what she wants and she tells me, or I go into a store and think "I really LIKE that" and buy one for her. Works every time.

With my dad, though, it's different. If he sees something he wants or needs, generally he buys it for himself. If you ask him what he wants, he says "nothing". His birthday is 2 days after Christmas, and most of his hobbies are summer-related.

This means that every year, I have to think of not one, but two presents for him, to be delivered within 2 days of each other. It cannot be one present (there are laws against that). It cannot be something he already has.

It has to be something he didn't know he always wanted.

This year, I think I struck gold. His birthday present was the exciting but not off-the-charts Gorillapod (able to combine his love of photography, the self-timer on his camera, and riding his bike). However, his Christmas present is what I would consider to be an all-time-greatest-present.

His No. 1 [Note: I've just discovered that my otherwise entirely flawless and lovely MacBook Pro doesn't have a "number sign" or "hash key" button. You know, the little thing that looks like a tic-tac-toe board. WTF, Apple?]. Ahem.

His "number 1" favorite hobby is photography. His current favorite hobby is needlepoint. What to do? Combine the two!

Picture of a RI lighthouse, taken by Dad:

Lovely, you say. It's a lighthouse, you say.

Ahhh, but wait.

Many struggles with a shall-remain-nameless Rhode Island purveyor of needlepoint and things over a 3-week period pre-Christmas, helped along by my ever-heroic mom, followed by a powerpoint presentation to be "opened" on Christmas morning, followed by a few more transatlantic emails.

After all of that, you get this. That's right, a custom, hand-painted needlepoint pattern (including the color-matched yarn) of a picture that my dad took. I am awesome. And he's worth it.