One of my husband's favorite stories are about the handmade scooters his dad, a sheetmetal worker, made for he and his brothers (6 of them). He says every Christmas morning they had to be careful when sitting on whatever Santa did that year because the paint was still wet. My 77-year old father still has the sling shot he made from a "y"-shaped tree branch when he was about 8-years old. And his sister has the minature doll furniture he made for her when he was still in school. (He just returned from a trip to OK where he visited with his 3rd or 4th grade teacher--she's about 90 now and is managing the Senior Citizen's Center in Vinita! Believe it or not, she still remembered him after all these many, many years. I was astounded.) The message reminding us of macaroni and gold paint really caught me looking back. My daughter's second grade class made 6" Christmas trees using a cardboard conical base and glued macaroni shells to the outside then spray painted. This magical wonder has adorned the top of my Christmas tree every year since 1972, when she was in second grade. Although not an antique now, it will be by the time it's passed on to her children. What ever happened to the old wooden spinner tops? Sharon (Catlin) Coleman