Favorite Christmas presents, Part 2

So I previously mentioned my love of my sewing station from my boyfriend, and how shocked I was that he had thought of something so wonderful [and as handmade as he can manage].

Jeni's books look as loved as my copies!

Well, another love of mine...Harry Potter. These books are perhaps a bit more dear to my heart than the average person, and for a few good reasons. I started reading them at the end of the 4th grade, and read the first 2 [which were already released]. I moved after 5th grade, as my dad was in the Army. The 3rd book was released the summer that we moved. My older sister and I had to share the book, so we would read a chapter and then pass it to the other person. It helped me not feel so sad/alone that summer as I moved to a new place. And then, as though J.K. Rowling was my personal champion, a new Harry Potter book was released every time my family had to move! After some time, my younger sister was old enough to read them, and we had to share a single book among 3 voracious readers. When I was in high school my dad had a military assignment in New Jersey. He lived there alone because it was in my senior year of high school, and he didn't want to make me move. We roped him into reading all the books, and we would all talk about them and get to experience the magic all over again as he read them for the first time. And then the last book came out, and it was sad to know it was over.

Needless to say, I have the trunk edition of all the books, in hardback, and I love them. I've read the series more times than I can count. I also own all the movies, and my sisters and my dad and I always see them together in theaters.

Well, we also live in Orlando, right by Harry Potter World. I've never been, but my younger sister and dad have passes, and go all the time. They have wands from the park, but my dad decided he could do it better.

And he did.

So he whittled wands for all of us, and customized them just for us. I got mine in time for the last movie that came out in July. They're better than the commercial wands because they're real wood, and he carves an individual design, and stains them and whatnot. But the best part? They have a core! If you're familiar with Harry Potter then you know that the core is what makes the wand magical [am I getting cooler and cooler here, or is it just me? :) ] One of my sister's even has dragon skin in hers! [she's got bearded dragon pets]. Mine has the hair of a giant, aka my 6'4 boyfriend.

Well, for Christmas my dad decided he was going to step up his game, and made us each a 2nd wand, and instead of a core it contains the most powerful single-bulb LED light on the market, and a button on the end. It's a Lumos wand! It lights up! And it's bright! And awesome! I can even change the batteries when they run out, meaning there's Harry Potter fun for all of time!

 He also carved these display boxes for our original wands, along with the cork backing to pin in the certificate of authenticity that gives the specs of the wand.

They take him months to make, and I'm so glad that my sisters and I can share something so magical [get it, eh, eh] with him, and I appreciate so much that he loves it just as much as we do!