Their handmade toys bring joy to thousands of kids!

After retiring, Mike Sullivan felt lost. Then he remembered his greatest-ever Christmas gift: a wooden toy his father had made for him by hand. Suddenly an idea took root, and with his wife's help, Mike decided to fill his days by making thousands of wooden toys for children in need

- Kellie B. Gormly 

Mike Sullivan felt bored and restless. After serving 26 years in the U.S. Army, then working 20 years in construction, he retired in 2012. I have to do something, Mike thought. And, suddenly, with the holidays approaching, a memory came to mind.

When Mike was a young boy, his father-a hard rock miner in Noxon, Montana-didn't earn much more than a dollar a day. Christmas gifts for Mike and his three brothers were scarce.

But Mike never forgot the Christmas of 1954, when his father transformed a Log Cabin syrup tin into a mill with a water wheel. He drilled a hole in the cabin, added an empty thread spool, cut slits in the spool, and inserted playing cards so the wheel would turn when Mike put the toy in the creek.

"It's the best present ever, Dad!" Mike had gushed.

Remembering this wonderful handmade toy, Mike beamed, and an idea sparked. I'll make toys for other children and make their Christmas wonderful!

Santa's workshop

Mike's wife, Judy, loved the idea, and immediately signed on to be his Mrs. Claus. The couple set up a woodworking shop at the back of their house in Desert Hot Springs, California, and got to work.