Vas a ser papá... You are a father... what a wonderful way to announce that a little one is on the way! I titled the puzzle Feliz Navidad as the puzzle was to be given as a Christmas present and I didn't want to give a hint to the surprise inside the puzzle box!

This puzzle is the first puzzle I've cut in grid style with regular knobs and a sprinkling of "false" edges inside. I like the style and plan to offer it as one of my mainstay cutting styles sometime in 2004. Edit 2016: didn't happen.

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

December 10, 2003

6:35 pm - Yesterday and today I designed a layout for #489, currently untitled. The customer made a very unusual request, requesting a grid cut puzzle with piece count "ending with an 8". I proposed different solutions (e.g. 6 x 8, 8 x 11, 9 x 12) and the customer chose 9 x 12 or 108 pieces. The catch is the customer wanted a Shooting Star figural, with printed text placed completely within the Shooting Star puzzle piece. I designed a modified Shooting Star and a grid template without altering the requested piece count. This afternoon I cut the puzzle. I varied the "in and out" knobs a bit, from my rigid "twos in and two outs", particularly as the puzzle is a portrait of a wedding couple embraced in a kiss, and I didn't want the knobs cutting through the eyes, lips, etc. The quality of the puzzle is excellent.