Big Brother

This one has a little bit of a story behind it. Alex is a kid I've worked with at church for the past 10 years. He'll be a sophomore in college this fall. The short story is that due to some unfortunate circumstances in his home life, he has preferred to spend a lot more of his summer at our house than his own. He also went on the mission trip to southern Ohio with us. There were adult men, little boys . . . . and Alex. He sort of became the unofficial "big brother" to all the younger kids. He spent the majority of the week toting someone around on his shoulders or his back.

Here he is with Ethan, one of our church's kids, as we walked down the local ice cream place one night.



And here he is with Donnie and Dalton, a pair of brothers who attend the VBS our church runs on the mission trip. They seemed incapable of being in Alex's presence without climbing on him.




Over the course of the summer, Alex has seen me working on various ornaments and I'd show them to him when they were finished. He never really said much about them. I'd shown him the golfer I'd made for John -- Alex knows John well because they grew up in church together. A few weeks ago, my box of patterns was out in my sewing area and Alex was leafing through them. I said, in a teasing manner, "Aww . . . Do you want me to make you an ornament, Alex?" He immediately turned and said, "YES!" in a toned that implied, "DUH!"

Since he was sitting with the patterns, I suggested he pick something out that he wanted. He refused. He informed me that I didn't ask John what he wanted, or anyone else what they wanted . . . . he just wanted me to pick something out specifically for him. Normally this isn't a problem. Unfortunately for me, though, Alex doesn't have any hobbies or interests that really relate to any of the ornament patterns I have. Carolyn DeAngelis failed to make one of a drunk college student passed out at a party. LOL!

I spent a week or two really thinking hard. And then it occurred to me exactly what I wanted to make:


It was really a pain in the butt. For starters, I don't draw whatsoever, so it's a little primitive. I should've made those shorts wider than the legs. I tried to copy the logo from our mission team shirts, but unless you know that it is -- you don't know what it is! The whole ornament is only about 6" tall, so you can see how tiny everything was. The faces were so small that I just had to make eyes from French knots.

All in all, though, I think it turned out pretty well. I named this one "Big Brother" because I couldn't think of anything more clever. I can't imagine ever needing/wanting to do this one again, so I think Alex'll be pleased that he got not only an original, but a one-of-a-kind!