Last night I prepared some ribs and some beef jerky (my father's recipe) to smoke today. I had planned to use my homemade smoker.

After reading the paper and eating breakfast, Michele started asking me questions about my plans for the day. I explained how I would have to smoke the meat in two batches. A few minutes later, she told me she wanted to go out to the garage and show me some things she wanted cleaned up.

When we got outside, she acted strange and wandered around the garage a bit rambling about cleaning. Finally she stopped, said "Merry Christmas" and unveiled my present, a smoker.

Eagerly, I opened the box and assembled the unit. It is perfect. The multiple shelves and the easy mehtod of changing the wood chips super. My wife totally rocks for getting this for me. Even better, she gave it to me when I could use it!

Ribs on the top two racks, jerky on the next two.

I wasn't the only one happy with the gift. The girls got the best gift of all, the empty box! It's even better than TV!