My daughter in law and I really ganged up on him this year. She told my wife and I that she had been putting aside $10 here and $20 there until she had enough money to buy him a brand new Springfield XDS-45 which he got this morning, first thing. So when she told me she was going to do that, I placed an order back in mid-September for a custom made holster and matching mag-carrier from Hopp Custom Leather for his coming XDS.
Here's the holster and carrier:
Here's a picture he posted on FaceBook, with the gun in the holster:
It's cowhide, with an Ostrich-leg overlay and a sweat-shield. You guys should have seen my son's face. We were all in the living room, opening presents, and he was wearing the gun in its plastic paddle that it comes with. He was talking about how much nicer it was to tote a lightweight gun like that instead of the steel-framed 1911 he normally carries, and he was going on about how he was going to get himself a good holster for the XDS as soon as he could put together the money. Then I handed him the gift-wrapped box and just grinned a mile-wide inside while he opened it. Y'all would have been proud of my poker-face. When he got the box open and exposed the holster, he was just about speechless for a second. He was SO happy, then he fake-cussed his wife and me out for pulling the wool over his eyes like that.
I love it when a good plan comes together.