Heavy/Getty Luke Macfarlane
Five-month-old Tess Eleanor Macfarlane may get showered with presents during her first holiday season, but she’s already received a pretty incredible gift from her dad, Hallmark actor Luke Macfarlane.
The star of Hallmark Channel’s “Catch Me If You Claus,” premiering on November 24, 2023, has spent the last several months building his infant daughter a wooden crib from scratch. It’s not the first handmade crib the actor and accomplished woodworker has built, but it’s surely the most meaningful.
Here’s what you need to know:
Luke Macfarlane Spent Months Lovingly Building His Daughter’s Crib
Macfarlane, 43, built his first crib in 2020 for actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband, Justin Mikita, who became first-time parents to son Beckett that July, per GMA.
Macfarlane and his partner, sports agent Hig Roberts, welcomed their first child on June 4. After “some hectic days” and “world-class care,” he wrote on Instagram, they got to take little Tess home on Father’s Day, June 18.
On July 31, Macfarlane revealed in his Instagram Stories that he was beginning to build a crib for his little girl and promised to keep his followers updated on his progress. A couple of days later, he posted a photo of a piece of wood with a sun, moon and star carved into it.
“Getting ready to add Sun and moon Walnut inlay for head and foot bed,” he wrote.
Macfarlane periodically posted updates in his Instagram Stories, including one in which he said he was creating “soft corners for baby’s hands.” He didn’t post any updates between late August and late October, when he finally returned with lots of photos and videos of his progress, including the tedious work of making spindles.
On October 30, Macfarlane revealed that the crib was almost done, made without a single nail or screw. He later posted a video of himself applying a nontoxic, “beautiful smelling oil” from Rubio Monocoat USA.
On November 15, Macfarlane posted one last video of the finished, handmade crib in his Tess’s nursery, with a sheep mobile hanging above it.
“Just as she was out growing her bassinet,” he wrote, “I finished building my daughter’s crib. Sweet dreams Tess.”
Meanwhile, he and Roberts have also been getting ready for their little girl’s first Christmas. He called this time in their lives “very exciting” when he spoke with People at Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas party on November 15.
“She’s not quite old enough to probably realize what’s going on,” he said, “but there will be stockings, and there will be decorations, and there will be a tree.”
Luke Macfarlane Explains How He Became an Avid Woodworker
Macfarlane has loved woodworking since he was a kid, he told Story+Rain in 2022. His dad was a doctor, but in his downtime, he helped foster his creative kid’s interests. Together, Macfarlane said, they tackled projects at home including building a gazebo, renovating their kitchen and constructing bookshelves when he was 10 or 11.
“That was very instrumental in my getting to know my way around a wood shop, and I continued it through my life,” he said.
When Macfarlane moved to Los Angeles after attending Juilliard, he landed various acting roles including joining the cast of the hit series “Brothers and Sisters” — but he also deepened his interest in woodworking at that time.
“I started working with a woodworking teacher down in Anaheim,” he told Story+Rain. “Between gigs, I would drive down, and this teacher, William Ng, showed me how to take my work to the next level, to get into furniture design, building, and joinery. That really led me to a next level of woodworking.”
“Woodworking is a connection to the past, to my my father,” he added. “When you make something out of wood, especially if you make it well, it will last. It’ll stick around. On many levels, the metaphor of woodworking is so key to my psychic health.”
Macfarlane isn’t the only handy Hallmark hunk, though. Michael Rady, who last starred in Hallmark’s “Where Are You, Christmas?” in October, spent much of the summer renovating and adding onto a massive chicken coop in his family’s backyard and documenting the process in his Instagram Stories.