[Mako]As it was promised in days long ago*, so shall it be done.[/Mako]
I have no pets, but I do have a wonderful two-year-old who loves mail (thank you, Blue's Clues). He also, being 2, doesn't really sit still for very long, so apologies in advance for the somewhat blurry pictures - I had to snap them quickly!
The first task was, obviously, to ensure that the box was suitable as a footrest while Dad got the scissors ready.
This so demonstrated, we proceeded to open the box, and came across a bright, shiny green bottle, custom-designed to grab the attention of young minds. And some Pocky!
The green bottle proved to be Wasabi Sauce**, so Daddy quickly appropriated it for safety reasons, and the Pocky was Almond Crunch, so Daddy appropriated that one, too, for ... reasons. Safety reasons? Sure, we'll go with that. Daddy had to take all the Almond Crunch Pocky for safety reasons. Underneath those was the only thing better than Pocky: MOAR POCKY! (Chocolate and strawberry!) A fact you might not know about Pocky is that it's really fun to shake, and makes an interesting noise when you do so.
Also included in the box was a collection of Japanese snack mixes - which I absolutely love, especially during long RPG sessions. My little guy thinks this one looks the best.
There were also several boxes of Japanese candy, which I forgot to take a picture of individually because my son was really interested in getting the piece de resistance out of the shipping box ...
Wow. I have heard so many good things about this game, but especially how it tends to turn into Fun (TM) in the Dwarf Fortress sense. "What's that? You decided to take more cargo and engines and skimped on the weapons? HAVE SOME SPACE PIRATES!" I was about this close || to picking it up after reading about it over in Critical Failures.
My son, of course, loves the "car," which is "right here, Dad," and also, "ooooh" and "yeah! yeah!"
The whole 9-yards, complete with "making a silly face for the camera." (You can see the previously referenced candy in the middle, which unfortunately I forgot to bring to work today. I did remember to bring some Pocky, though!)
Also, I had to share the "num-nums." With a pirate.
Thank you, very much, @Dyvion, for a fantastic Secret Santa. Merry Christmas!
* Like, yesterday.
** YES. I almost never eat sushi - oonagi is probably my favorite - but I love, love, love wasabi.
Woo, all arrived safely. So glad you don't already have Galaxy Trucker. I've played several games with my buddies and it is indeed "Dwarf Fortress Fun[tm]". My buddy has a really bad habit of leaving almost no exposed connections... but making all of his ships vulnerable to being severed in half. It's a talent. Also, really glad you like the treats. I'm away from Okinawa for a few months so the best I could do was Americanized packaging of authentic snacks. I'm so proud of myself, I didn't keep any of the pocky I bought for your gift! (That required a separate trip later after I lamented not buying more)
Merry Christmas!
Steam: No Safety In Life
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Found a big ol package waiting for me at home yesterday, but didn't have time to get into it. Well today I grabbed a big ass knife and tore that shit up!
That's me! Hmm, someone put a whole lot of effort into wrapping presents and Tetrising them nicely into this box.
The Grinch! REVEAL YOUR SECRETS!!
@Nackmatholn is Santa! He is real! What's this about Dry Bones? And Nintendo Fun Bucks? The heck is this square of foil?
Inside the foil is... Dry Bones art! On a Nintendo eShop card! I'm still not sure how much is on it, I didn't want to mess with the card too much, seemed like poor ol Dry Bones could get smeared by a stray digit. I kindof want to frame it! Okay... going in... time to unwrap some stuff!
Holy weird, I was just talking to some co-workers today about how frickin hard it is to find these around here! Awesome!
I immediately ate this. Not even joking. YUM.
Oh my. What mad man invented this? I'm scared to try it! But I love... LOVE dark chocolate. Gonna have to build up some courage. I trust it's not super spicy burn my tongue off hell fire chocolate? It SMELLS chocolately and delicious, haven't taken a bite yet though!
What the..?? Should I be scared? That's the most ominous Christmas gift I've ever gotten. Somewhere in the back of my head a voice was telling me this thing is going to explode when I open it, as I gingerly unwrapped it.
Oh thank heavens, it's not deadly! I think? I'm immediately sold on the tag line. A party game for horrible people? Love it! Let's see what this is all about...
Hahaha that is FANTASTIC. I can NOT wait to play this. Going to have to choose who to play it with quite carefully! Also, I'm pretty sure Wil Wheaton is never, ever wrong. And a Penny Arcade quote on the box! How fitting!
For whoever my Santa is I am currently away on a business trip. If you're sending physical stuff to our house my wife will almost certainly put it on the box pile and not tell me about it. I should be back in a few days.
@AbsoluteZero, glad everything arrived in good condition! The chili chocolate has a nice warmth to it. Not too crazy, just enough to be devious. Cards Against Humanity will be a game that spreads like wildfire among your friends, but understand that you will learn things about them that cannot be forgotten. The Nintendo moneys card is for 20, you should be able to scratch the spot on back for the code. The Drybones was done with chalkboard paint, and chalk. I was going to spray seal it, but the aresol would have blown the chalk off. Yay!
I had time to scoot over to the post office this afternoon after a busy morning of... OK I'll drop the charade I've been on Steam and board gaming all day IT'S MY HOLIDAYS ALRIGHT?
In any case, a Wild Package appears! The pets are gathered for photo time and while Darcy the pooch has impecible manners...
Hyde the cat must be pinned down to stay still for just a goddamn second.
So majestic
A quick snip with some sissors and Darcy investigates the peanuts. "Sadly, not edible" she later reports
"PANDEMIC, IT'S PANDEMIC!" she exlaims. How right you are pooch, this is an amazing gift that should be a part of every board game aficionados collection!
Once we polish off another game of Dominion this afternoon, I'll get to learning this so we can hopefully have a game with my family on Christmas day
Big thanks for @mere_immortal for not only this great gift, but also Risk of Ran, Volgarr The Viking (of which I've put in an embarrassing amount of hours and progressed so little haha) and Gunpoint. You truly are the king, of kings (and I hope you have a fantastic Christmas)
In it was a letter that I don't want to share because it's personal. I'll get to that more in a bit.
3 mystery packages!
An assortment of bath treats!
In the tin was a beautifully smelling vanilla candle, and matching soap, hand cream, and bath oil.
Some kind of brown putty?
Oh! A pouch with more scented treats!
It looks like a full kit with creams, cleansers, and exfoliating scrub and it all smells good enough to eat!
The loveliest wrapping job ever!
Hm.. what is this?
An apron!
I definitely needed one of these and this one is ultra cute and the right size! This is perfect! I actually just had to wash my fleece because I managed to spatter some tomato sauce on myself the other day. I've already hung this on the door in the kitchen for use as soon as I get back from visiting my family.
Everything together!
A bit more on the letter at this point. The letter made me cry, I'm actually still crying off and on, and it isn't in a bad way.
The letter is one of the nicest, kindest, most beautiful things I've ever received and I just wanted to say a deep and heartfelt thank you.
I hope that isn't too cheesy.
Thank you, @Icemopper, you are amazing, and the community for GTSS is really phenomenal in their kindness and awesomeness to complete strangers.
As a last sidenote, Justus and I were trying so hard avoid my accidentally finding out who my Santa was. Then he mentioned he was sending you my Steam ID and your name popped up on the friend request a few hours later. So I turned and asked, "Is it Icemopper?" and he facepalmed.
I finally got home from work to check out the goodies in my box. Confession, there is a box of Gobstoppers not pictured because I took them in to work and shared them with everyone.
The letter I got (typed in for your reading pleasure)
The night before G&Tmas
Twas a night in December and in part of the house
A keyboard was clicking along with a mouse.
Forum messages were searched and read with great care
In hopes that good shopping ideas would be there.
Post upon post were examined and read
But hopes of great gift pointers were pretty much dead.
For within most comments were not helpful tips
But instead many posts on the price of turnips.
"An idea!" I exclaimed upon seeing one post
Of a new video game my Santee wanted the most.
But alas the excitement was never to stay
As the next post said, "I caved and bought it today."
The next hundred posts that met my glossed over stare
Were all about fake furniture, couches and chairs.
"My Santee has problems, " I said without pausing,
"She spent her whole year within Animal Crossing."
To make matter worse it soon became clear
She converted to digital everything this year.
Game boxes and books were not set up on a shelf
To me made and delivered by Santa's most loyal elf.
So instead codes were wanted on Kindle and Steam
Zeroes and Ones had become my Santee's sweet Christmas dream.
But of course Secret Santa would not be the same
If the jolly holiday mailman never came.
So within this box are some toys and some treats
(the toys aren't for you, they are for your hairy beasts)
So I hope you enjoy and make poast in clear sight
Saying "Lindsey Lohan was my Santa, and he did alright!"
Cooperation was elicited with treats.
This one mentions alcohol, must open first.
Ohhhh, I just got a bottle of bourbon - I know what must be done.
Candy, and my husband thinking he is a hand model
A moose you say?
Rocky has given his opinion on this one
This tag fell off but I'm pretty sure I know from where
From here
Layla says candy is for her
Mystery package
More candy!
Action shots requested? Hmmm?
Oh my, I couldn't even get them out of the box fast enough
Man, add The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Game Over, and Legend of Dungeon to all that and I'm positively spoiled. You're amazing @Lindsey Lohan! Thank you SO MUCH.
Elin on
Switch SW-5832-5050-0149
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
Just as a note for people, since I've gotten some requests regarding this:
As a policy, I am not handing out people's sign-up information upon request. The reason being that participating in GTSS involves a certain amount of trust. People are disclosing actual real life information which could be abused. As a result, I am limiting access to this information to the person who is your assigned Santa.
I understand that some people want to give secret spontaneous gifts, and if you'd like to do that I can proxy a message to the person you want information on to ask if they are ok with me sharing their information. That's the only way it's going to go down. I'm sorry if this makes it harder to randomly gift, but I don't have any other way to try to ensure that this stays a safe thing for people to participate in.
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
Just as a note for people, since I've gotten some requests regarding this:
As a policy, I am not handing out people's sign-up information upon request. The reason being that participating in GTSS involves a certain amount of trust. People are disclosing actual real life information which could be abused. As a result, I am limiting access to this information to the person who is your assigned Santa.
I understand that some people want to give secret spontaneous gifts, and if you'd like to do that I can proxy a message to the person you want information on to ask if they are ok with me sharing their information. That's the only way it's going to go down. I'm sorry if this makes it harder to randomly gift, but I don't have any other way to try to ensure that this stays a safe thing for people to participate in.
I love you. Totally not creepy stalkerish though. Thanks for the work put in here
"Hey there! Your gifts are on their way, with one bit of a snag. There are two packages; the first should arrive on the 23rd just in time, but the second got delayed and won't arrive until a few weeks later because the supplier is a scrooge. Sorry about that ."
Wooooooo!!! Every year I forget that I'm going to receive a present, I'm too busy thinking about what I'm going to send my Santee, then it comes as a lovely surprise
Hypatia I think that's very sensible of you, although I know we're a bunch of very lovely people it makes sense to keep things confidential.
And chilli chocolate from Lindt is the dogs boll(oh, I think that might be a rude word in America) very good! It's not too chilli to be a shock, and their dark chocolate is scrummy!
For all the top UK Gaming Bargains, check out SavyGamer
Just as a note for people, since I've gotten some requests regarding this:
As a policy, I am not handing out people's sign-up information upon request. The reason being that participating in GTSS involves a certain amount of trust. People are disclosing actual real life information which could be abused. As a result, I am limiting access to this information to the person who is your assigned Santa.
I understand that some people want to give secret spontaneous gifts, and if you'd like to do that I can proxy a message to the person you want information on to ask if they are ok with me sharing their information. That's the only way it's going to go down. I'm sorry if this makes it harder to randomly gift, but I don't have any other way to try to ensure that this stays a safe thing for people to participate in.
Hypathia sussed out my cunning plan; gather ALL of your addresses using the cunning ruse that I'm going to surprise you all with a gift, then visit each of your houses on Christmas Eve and steal all your presents.
In it was a letter that I don't want to share because it's personal. I'll get to that more in a bit.
3 mystery packages!
An assortment of bath treats!
In the tin was a beautifully smelling vanilla candle, and matching soap, hand cream, and bath oil.
Some kind of brown putty?
Oh! A pouch with more scented treats!
It looks like a full kit with creams, cleansers, and exfoliating scrub and it all smells good enough to eat!
The loveliest wrapping job ever!
Hm.. what is this?
An apron!
I definitely needed one of these and this one is ultra cute and the right size! This is perfect! I actually just had to wash my fleece because I managed to spatter some tomato sauce on myself the other day. I've already hung this on the door in the kitchen for use as soon as I get back from visiting my family.
Everything together!
A bit more on the letter at this point. The letter made me cry, I'm actually still crying off and on, and it isn't in a bad way.
The letter is one of the nicest, kindest, most beautiful things I've ever received and I just wanted to say a deep and heartfelt thank you.
I hope that isn't too cheesy.
Thank you, @Icemopper, you are amazing, and the community for GTSS is really phenomenal in their kindness and awesomeness to complete strangers.
As a last sidenote, Justus and I were trying so hard avoid my accidentally finding out who my Santa was. Then he mentioned he was sending you my Steam ID and your name popped up on the friend request a few hours later. So I turned and asked, "Is it Icemopper?" and he facepalmed.
No worries, I knew there was a certain amount of inevitability when gifting the organizer that you would find out more easily than others. No worries! And I only wanted your profile to find your wishlist, and get you a game on it. It turns out you already have it now! But that's ok, you can't hide so easily.
I'm glad you (seem to) like it all! If anything is not your flavor, please let me know and I will assist in any returns! If you want to hold on to it, then great! My wife helped assure me that bath salts and the like were not creepy, and I assure you, there is no other message than in the letter, which I mean with sincerity. You're the best! Enjoy your holiday, and have a super lot of fun baking and getting flour everywhere from now on - it won't get on you!
My package is out for delivery. Hurray! Just in time Santa person. Well played! I work from home but will decide if I open it immediately or wait until my son gets home from daycare to get him in the pictures. He's pretty adorable.
I finally got home from work to check out the goodies in my box. Confession, there is a box of Gobstoppers not pictured because I took them in to work and shared them with everyone.
I'm glad things (finally) reached you. As much fun as it was plucking things off your Amazon wish list or grabbing some local chocolate stuff, I was truthfully most excited to see pictures of dogs. I hope you have a great holiday!
I'm finally at a PC so I should do this to bring attention to how awesome my Santa has been as well...
My Santa so far has sent me a copy of the newest Humble Bundle. I haven't had a chance to do much with the Steam offerings (seeing my PC this month has been sort of like seeing a unicorn...rare)...however I did install Jack Lumber on my phone yesterday at work and it is absolutely wonderful. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be playing with my wood today at lunch as well.
But more importantly...yesterday a $25 gift card arrived for this place: http://www.allagash.com/
It's a local brewery about 30 minutes from my house - amazingly about 2 minutes from the bowling alley my son has youth bowling at every Saturday morning! So next weekend, we're going to schedule a brewery tour for the family and finish the tour with me bringing home delicious beer.
This will sound goofy but It could very likely end up my favorite gift of the year. There's nothing like a gift you would never think to get yourself. As a parent, things like games and movies and such are almost always things that get shared around the house or you end up with useful gifts like blankets or toasters for the house. The luxury of a super nice bottle of stout is really a treat and given even my wife won't drink anything dark, it's all mine!
You live near Allagash? That's awesome! They often have brewery only releases of some awesome beers. They can be expensive, but those are so worth it. Only reason I wish I lived near them. Their coolship is so freaking cool.
edit: In fact, they just put a new beer out in the store named Tiarna. Of course I don't know if you like sour / wild beers, so it's quite possibly not the beer for you.
@shadowane! I've been a horrible santee! I received my gift on Wednesday, and didn't find the time to post it until today.
I'm terrible and I hope you can forgive me.
Without further ado...
Cat investigates box!
There's a note! That tells me not to read it!
I stayed true though, I did not go past the first page until I opened everything.
I didn't take pictures of all the wrapped gifts (there were 5) in my excitement, but I took a picture of the last one, because it had writing on it. But I also wanted to comment on the wrapping. It was some immaculate wrapping. At first I thought it was Amazon wrapping, but then I realized it wasn't. It was hand wrapped by my Santa!
And the final haul:
So I guess I'm going to have a very gay Christmas break with all this. Just..super gay.
The cookies? To die for. So chocolatey, so rich. A tinge of a smokey/coffee flavor. Kind of reminds me of a chocolate dark ale, which is
Thanks shadowane!
This has been awesome!
Oh and I totally appreciate you not making me figure out who you are. It's been a bit of a hectic week. It would have just driven me crazy :P
@shadowane! I've been a horrible santee! I received my gift on Wednesday, and didn't find the time to post it until today.
I'm terrible and I hope you can forgive me.
Without further ado...
Cat investigates box!
There's a note! That tells me not to read it!
I stayed true though, I did not go past the first page until I opened everything.
I didn't take pictures of all the wrapped gifts (there were 5) in my excitement, but I took a picture of the last one, because it had writing on it. But I also wanted to comment on the wrapping. It was some immaculate wrapping. At first I thought it was Amazon wrapping, but then I realized it wasn't. It was hand wrapped by my Santa!
And the final haul:
So I guess I'm going to have a very gay Christmas break with all this. Just..super gay.
The cookies? To die for. So chocolatey, so rich. A tinge of a smokey/coffee flavor. Kind of reminds me of a chocolate dark ale, which is
Thanks shadowane!
This has been awesome!
Oh and I totally appreciate you not making me figure out who you are. It's been a bit of a hectic week. It would have just driven me crazy :P
Glad you enjoyed everything! I sent you an email with an updated letter, but it's pretty similar. Felt dumb when I found it on the printer. I didn't think my wrapping is anything special but glad you thought it was good.
The cookies, as you saw in the recipe, have some instant coffee in them. It blends nicely with the chocolate.
I'm actually reading the Shadows of the Apt again right now. Still as good as I remember it. I hope you enjoy the first four books. It really is a different type of series.
Oh and no worries on the post. Since you posted you got it and liked it, that's what mattered to me. I would have only been nervous if you hadn't said anything at all.
This is my first year in 5 that I haven't participated, as I was in the middle of moving and didn't think I would have enough time. Going through this thread is both amazing (because everyone has really kicked it up a notch) and sad because I'm not in.
Santa, I have not received anything - no worries tho, I know you are busy On a side note, I ran into Denis Dyack at Best Buy today. Very surreal! He's always been super nice to me tho.
WiiU ID - Draysoth1
Xbox Live - Draysoth1
PSN - Draysoth
Steam - Draysoth
3DS - 2320-6133-3744
Please let me know if you add me!
Santa, I have not received anything today, and I am now away until New Year's Eve. As before, hit me up if you want an alternative address, otherwise I await my return home!
"Oh, well, this would be one of those circumstances that people unfamiliar with the law of large numbers would call a coincidence."
I received a message from Proxy that my package had arrived and my Santa was getting concerned that I hadn't posted about it - that's because my ever so wonderful leasing office didn't put a notification in my mailbox that I had a package waiting for me. Thanks guys! So I ran down to check out what was waiting for me and SWEET CHRISTMAS TIDINGS THIS IS A LARGE BOX.
A swift slice with the pocket knife brought forth an amazing collection of gifts. Because my cats are both A) Whiny little bitches and unable to sit still for more than 10 seconds, Tachikoma was tasked with inspection and security.
He takes his job very seriously.
First cab off the rank is a massive hardcover collection of Powers, which a wee bit of investigation reveals as a Noir/Police Procedural with Superpower undertones. Something tells me I'm going to eat this up.
Second was Volume One of Saga. I absolutely fucking loved Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn, so I have high hopes for this as well.
Third was a box of Chocolate Covered Pretzels, which my Santa tells me are local to his area and rather delectable. I can confirm - once opened, the box lasted all of about 30 minutes.
Fourth was a Transformers Figurine, which Tachikoma inspected rather closely. More figures to go up on the shelf above my desk is never a bad thing.
And finally, in the biggest box left for the end, is a MOTORIZED SKY-HOOK REPLICA AAAAAAAAH. Infinite was by and large one of my favourite games of the last season, and this is an absolutely fantastic gift. Oh man, I'm still grinning when I look at this damn thing.
I am absolutely blown away by all of this - So an incredible amount of thanks goes out to my Santa, @Schide , for their amazing haul this year.
Posts
Woo, all arrived safely. So glad you don't already have Galaxy Trucker. I've played several games with my buddies and it is indeed "Dwarf Fortress Fun[tm]". My buddy has a really bad habit of leaving almost no exposed connections... but making all of his ships vulnerable to being severed in half. It's a talent. Also, really glad you like the treats. I'm away from Okinawa for a few months so the best I could do was Americanized packaging of authentic snacks. I'm so proud of myself, I didn't keep any of the pocky I bought for your gift! (That required a separate trip later after I lamented not buying more)
Merry Christmas!
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
Found a big ol package waiting for me at home yesterday, but didn't have time to get into it. Well today I grabbed a big ass knife and tore that shit up!
That's me! Hmm, someone put a whole lot of effort into wrapping presents and Tetrising them nicely into this box.
The Grinch! REVEAL YOUR SECRETS!!
@Nackmatholn is Santa! He is real! What's this about Dry Bones? And Nintendo Fun Bucks? The heck is this square of foil?
Inside the foil is... Dry Bones art! On a Nintendo eShop card! I'm still not sure how much is on it, I didn't want to mess with the card too much, seemed like poor ol Dry Bones could get smeared by a stray digit. I kindof want to frame it! Okay... going in... time to unwrap some stuff!
Holy weird, I was just talking to some co-workers today about how frickin hard it is to find these around here! Awesome!
I immediately ate this. Not even joking. YUM.
Oh my. What mad man invented this? I'm scared to try it! But I love... LOVE dark chocolate. Gonna have to build up some courage. I trust it's not super spicy burn my tongue off hell fire chocolate? It SMELLS chocolately and delicious, haven't taken a bite yet though!
What the..?? Should I be scared? That's the most ominous Christmas gift I've ever gotten. Somewhere in the back of my head a voice was telling me this thing is going to explode when I open it, as I gingerly unwrapped it.
Oh thank heavens, it's not deadly! I think? I'm immediately sold on the tag line. A party game for horrible people? Love it! Let's see what this is all about...
Hahaha that is FANTASTIC. I can NOT wait to play this. Going to have to choose who to play it with quite carefully! Also, I'm pretty sure Wil Wheaton is never, ever wrong. And a Penny Arcade quote on the box! How fitting!
Thank you Santa @Nackmatholn !! You are THE MAN!!
thanks @dac vin for sending me toki tori!
And *highfive* Cards against humanity gifting bros!
Glad you liked it! Figured you could use a shirt to wear while you root on TaeJa!
Steam
Terrans, of course.
Mule popping, multi-dropping, building floating Terrans.
Like my main man Taeja.
@Lost knows what's up.
I had time to scoot over to the post office this afternoon after a busy morning of... OK I'll drop the charade I've been on Steam and board gaming all day IT'S MY HOLIDAYS ALRIGHT?
In any case, a Wild Package appears! The pets are gathered for photo time and while Darcy the pooch has impecible manners...
So majestic
A quick snip with some sissors and Darcy investigates the peanuts. "Sadly, not edible" she later reports
"PANDEMIC, IT'S PANDEMIC!" she exlaims. How right you are pooch, this is an amazing gift that should be a part of every board game aficionados collection!
Once we polish off another game of Dominion this afternoon, I'll get to learning this so we can hopefully have a game with my family on Christmas day
Big thanks for @mere_immortal for not only this great gift, but also Risk of Ran, Volgarr The Viking (of which I've put in an embarrassing amount of hours and progressed so little haha) and Gunpoint. You truly are the king, of kings (and I hope you have a fantastic Christmas)
A wild box appears in its natural habitat!
It appears to be stuffed chock full!
In it was a letter that I don't want to share because it's personal. I'll get to that more in a bit.
3 mystery packages!
An assortment of bath treats!
In the tin was a beautifully smelling vanilla candle, and matching soap, hand cream, and bath oil.
Some kind of brown putty?
Oh! A pouch with more scented treats!
It looks like a full kit with creams, cleansers, and exfoliating scrub and it all smells good enough to eat!
The loveliest wrapping job ever!
Hm.. what is this?
An apron!
I definitely needed one of these and this one is ultra cute and the right size! This is perfect! I actually just had to wash my fleece because I managed to spatter some tomato sauce on myself the other day. I've already hung this on the door in the kitchen for use as soon as I get back from visiting my family.
Everything together!
A bit more on the letter at this point. The letter made me cry, I'm actually still crying off and on, and it isn't in a bad way.
The letter is one of the nicest, kindest, most beautiful things I've ever received and I just wanted to say a deep and heartfelt thank you.
I hope that isn't too cheesy.
Thank you, @Icemopper, you are amazing, and the community for GTSS is really phenomenal in their kindness and awesomeness to complete strangers.
As a last sidenote, Justus and I were trying so hard avoid my accidentally finding out who my Santa was. Then he mentioned he was sending you my Steam ID and your name popped up on the friend request a few hours later. So I turned and asked, "Is it Icemopper?" and he facepalmed.
I finally got home from work to check out the goodies in my box. Confession, there is a box of Gobstoppers not pictured because I took them in to work and shared them with everyone.
The letter I got (typed in for your reading pleasure)
Twas a night in December and in part of the house
A keyboard was clicking along with a mouse.
Forum messages were searched and read with great care
In hopes that good shopping ideas would be there.
Post upon post were examined and read
But hopes of great gift pointers were pretty much dead.
For within most comments were not helpful tips
But instead many posts on the price of turnips.
"An idea!" I exclaimed upon seeing one post
Of a new video game my Santee wanted the most.
But alas the excitement was never to stay
As the next post said, "I caved and bought it today."
The next hundred posts that met my glossed over stare
Were all about fake furniture, couches and chairs.
"My Santee has problems, " I said without pausing,
"She spent her whole year within Animal Crossing."
To make matter worse it soon became clear
She converted to digital everything this year.
Game boxes and books were not set up on a shelf
To me made and delivered by Santa's most loyal elf.
So instead codes were wanted on Kindle and Steam
Zeroes and Ones had become my Santee's sweet Christmas dream.
But of course Secret Santa would not be the same
If the jolly holiday mailman never came.
So within this box are some toys and some treats
(the toys aren't for you, they are for your hairy beasts)
So I hope you enjoy and make poast in clear sight
Saying "Lindsey Lohan was my Santa, and he did alright!"
Cooperation was elicited with treats.
This one mentions alcohol, must open first.
Ohhhh, I just got a bottle of bourbon - I know what must be done.
Candy, and my husband thinking he is a hand model
A moose you say?
Rocky has given his opinion on this one
This tag fell off but I'm pretty sure I know from where
From here
Layla says candy is for her
Mystery package
More candy!
Action shots requested? Hmmm?
Oh my, I couldn't even get them out of the box fast enough
Man, add The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Game Over, and Legend of Dungeon to all that and I'm positively spoiled. You're amazing @Lindsey Lohan! Thank you SO MUCH.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
As a policy, I am not handing out people's sign-up information upon request. The reason being that participating in GTSS involves a certain amount of trust. People are disclosing actual real life information which could be abused. As a result, I am limiting access to this information to the person who is your assigned Santa.
I understand that some people want to give secret spontaneous gifts, and if you'd like to do that I can proxy a message to the person you want information on to ask if they are ok with me sharing their information. That's the only way it's going to go down. I'm sorry if this makes it harder to randomly gift, but I don't have any other way to try to ensure that this stays a safe thing for people to participate in.
On seeing this I was wondering if I'd been sleep-Santa'ing.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
I love you. Totally not creepy stalkerish though. Thanks for the work put in here
Chili chocolate is the way, and also the light
"Hey there! Your gifts are on their way, with one bit of a snag. There are two packages; the first should arrive on the 23rd just in time, but the second got delayed and won't arrive until a few weeks later because the supplier is a scrooge. Sorry about that ."
Wooooooo!!! Every year I forget that I'm going to receive a present, I'm too busy thinking about what I'm going to send my Santee, then it comes as a lovely surprise
Hypatia I think that's very sensible of you, although I know we're a bunch of very lovely people it makes sense to keep things confidential.
And chilli chocolate from Lindt is the dogs boll(oh, I think that might be a rude word in America) very good! It's not too chilli to be a shock, and their dark chocolate is scrummy!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I spent the remaining $10 of the PSN code you sent me
Hypathia sussed out my cunning plan; gather ALL of your addresses using the cunning ruse that I'm going to surprise you all with a gift, then visit each of your houses on Christmas Eve and steal all your presents.
I'll get you next time. Next time!
-shakes fist-
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Justus!!! Blast!!
No worries, I knew there was a certain amount of inevitability when gifting the organizer that you would find out more easily than others. No worries! And I only wanted your profile to find your wishlist, and get you a game on it. It turns out you already have it now! But that's ok, you can't hide so easily.
I'm glad you (seem to) like it all! If anything is not your flavor, please let me know and I will assist in any returns! If you want to hold on to it, then great! My wife helped assure me that bath salts and the like were not creepy, and I assure you, there is no other message than in the letter, which I mean with sincerity. You're the best! Enjoy your holiday, and have a super lot of fun baking and getting flour everywhere from now on - it won't get on you!
I'm finally at a PC so I should do this to bring attention to how awesome my Santa has been as well...
My Santa so far has sent me a copy of the newest Humble Bundle. I haven't had a chance to do much with the Steam offerings (seeing my PC this month has been sort of like seeing a unicorn...rare)...however I did install Jack Lumber on my phone yesterday at work and it is absolutely wonderful. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be playing with my wood today at lunch as well.
But more importantly...yesterday a $25 gift card arrived for this place:
http://www.allagash.com/
It's a local brewery about 30 minutes from my house - amazingly about 2 minutes from the bowling alley my son has youth bowling at every Saturday morning! So next weekend, we're going to schedule a brewery tour for the family and finish the tour with me bringing home delicious beer.
This will sound goofy but It could very likely end up my favorite gift of the year. There's nothing like a gift you would never think to get yourself. As a parent, things like games and movies and such are almost always things that get shared around the house or you end up with useful gifts like blankets or toasters for the house. The luxury of a super nice bottle of stout is really a treat and given even my wife won't drink anything dark, it's all mine!
edit: In fact, they just put a new beer out in the store named Tiarna. Of course I don't know if you like sour / wild beers, so it's quite possibly not the beer for you.
Yay
My Santa appears to be Canadian, and I know his real name possibly? Unless the Canadian email was a clever ploy. But who could it be?
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
@shadowane! I've been a horrible santee! I received my gift on Wednesday, and didn't find the time to post it until today.
I'm terrible and I hope you can forgive me.
Without further ado...
Cat investigates box!
There's a note! That tells me not to read it!
I stayed true though, I did not go past the first page until I opened everything.
I didn't take pictures of all the wrapped gifts (there were 5) in my excitement, but I took a picture of the last one, because it had writing on it. But I also wanted to comment on the wrapping. It was some immaculate wrapping. At first I thought it was Amazon wrapping, but then I realized it wasn't. It was hand wrapped by my Santa!
And the final haul:
So I guess I'm going to have a very gay Christmas break with all this. Just..super gay.
The cookies? To die for. So chocolatey, so rich. A tinge of a smokey/coffee flavor. Kind of reminds me of a chocolate dark ale, which is
Thanks shadowane!
This has been awesome!
Oh and I totally appreciate you not making me figure out who you are. It's been a bit of a hectic week. It would have just driven me crazy :P
BF3 Battlelog | Twitter | World of Warships | World of Tanks | Wishlist
Are you sure they were a real Canadian?
Was it a .ca email address?
That's the one we just give out willy nilly, like a fake phone number at a bar when you don't really want that person calling you back more than once.
Look for .eh addresses. It's the only way to be sure.
The post office dropped off a parcel notification today, I'm going down after lunch to see what's up with that.
The cookies, as you saw in the recipe, have some instant coffee in them. It blends nicely with the chocolate.
I'm actually reading the Shadows of the Apt again right now. Still as good as I remember it. I hope you enjoy the first four books. It really is a different type of series.
Oh and no worries on the post. Since you posted you got it and liked it, that's what mattered to me. I would have only been nervous if you hadn't said anything at all.
Merry Christmas!
Xbox Live - Draysoth1
PSN - Draysoth
Steam - Draysoth
3DS - 2320-6133-3744
Please let me know if you add me!
Santa has struck again!
Thanks Santa! Nothing says Christmas like strafing your enemies tanks with 30mm depleted uranium ordnance!
'TIS THE SEASON.
I received a message from Proxy that my package had arrived and my Santa was getting concerned that I hadn't posted about it - that's because my ever so wonderful leasing office didn't put a notification in my mailbox that I had a package waiting for me. Thanks guys! So I ran down to check out what was waiting for me and SWEET CHRISTMAS TIDINGS THIS IS A LARGE BOX.
A swift slice with the pocket knife brought forth an amazing collection of gifts. Because my cats are both A) Whiny little bitches and
He takes his job very seriously.
First cab off the rank is a massive hardcover collection of Powers, which a wee bit of investigation reveals as a Noir/Police Procedural with Superpower undertones. Something tells me I'm going to eat this up.
Second was Volume One of Saga. I absolutely fucking loved Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn, so I have high hopes for this as well.
Third was a box of Chocolate Covered Pretzels, which my Santa tells me are local to his area and rather delectable. I can confirm - once opened, the box lasted all of about 30 minutes.
Fourth was a Transformers Figurine, which Tachikoma inspected rather closely. More figures to go up on the shelf above my desk is never a bad thing.
And finally, in the biggest box left for the end, is a MOTORIZED SKY-HOOK REPLICA AAAAAAAAH. Infinite was by and large one of my favourite games of the last season, and this is an absolutely fantastic gift. Oh man, I'm still grinning when I look at this damn thing.
I am absolutely blown away by all of this - So an incredible amount of thanks goes out to my Santa, @Schide , for their amazing haul this year.
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