Even if your childhood image of Saint Nick is the Victorian-style "jolly old elf," Charlie's Old World Santas will set you reminiscing about the past. Charlie carves Santas into just about anything that will sit still long enough but especially likes to carve on handles of old tools: tack hammers, sink plungers, old-fashioned potato mashers, and the like.

Rather than whittle the wood into the shape of Santas, Charlie allows the shape of the handle to dictate the design of the Santa. He preserves as much of the original handle as possible. If it is painted, he works around the color that is there; if the wood is pretty, he adds very little paint.

Charlie says finding the right item for carving is as important as the actual etching. "I like to imagine how the implement was used by people long ago," he says. He enjoys hearing the stories people conjure up when they remember how their parents and grandparents used the tools.

adapted from "Santa Goes to the Fair," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Thursday, October 2, 1997