Doing a bit of retro blogging today, as I am trying to catch up on several Crochet projects that I did and then gifted for Christmas. Since I didn’t want to reveal the “gift” until after the person received them, it only makes sense.

On December 4, 2014, my company hosted a charity event asking for “Santa’s little Elves”. Being a crafty type person, I found it hard to resist the advertised “toy building” from scratch and headed along.

As we sat down at the tables, we were greeted by piles of boxes of pre cut wooden toys. Each one was a little different. there were race cars, dinosaurs (triceratops and T-rex), and construction equipment (diggers and tractors). There were also paints, glue, and little “elf” hats. We were divided into teams by table, and told how the process worked.

Each table was to make as many toys in 2 hours as possible. The toys were to be put together, with working moving parts, painted in at least 3 colors, and set aside to dry. They would be QA’ed for several features, and the most creative and most detailed table / set of toys would win.

After racing for a couple of hours, the most any team made was 5 – but they were all single colored – and disqualified. Thus, my team with 3 – meeting all the requirements took first place. 🙂 The 3 above were our entries. The other entries are below…

In all, we ended up with some 100 toys for the kids, all of which went toward the St. Vincent De Paul charity along with a huge bunch of “secret santa” gifts under the tree. Now, if that doesn’t make your heart sing (and get into the spirit of the season, I don’t know what will.