See what we got in previous years: Twitter Secret Santa 2010-2012, Twitter Secret Santa 2013 and Twitter Secret Santa 2014.
We’ve just returned from a trip to Japan, but before I report back on this awesome holiday it’s time for the 2015 edition of Twitter Secret Santa. If you don’t know what that is, please check out the pages linked above before reading on.
Thank you, Elves!
This year Twitter Secret Santa was once again organised by the lovely elves at NZ Post – and they absolutely nailed it. Everything including the registration process, communications with participants, sending out the parcels and looking after those with bad Santas (those who didn’t send out a present themselves) was done in the most perfect way. A big thank you to everyone involved!
What we sent
Obviously everyone on our household signed up for Twitter Secret Santa again: Kai, Ingrid the chicken, Max the cat and myself. We were really lucky with our giftees this year, since none of us got an ungrateful teenager who hates their mum and sister or a One Direction fan who really didn’t want another piece of 1D swag but never talked about anything else but how much they love Harry Styles (yep, we had those in the past and those are really challenging people to gift for).
The biggest challenge this time was that two of our giftees fall into the slightly more private category of people, which made it a bit harder to find something they’d really love. But based on their reaction on Twitter they seem to be very happy with our choices – I call that a success. One is waiting until Christmas to open their present, but it’s the one that I really know will be perfect, I’m not worried that I might disappoint them.
What we got
This year can easily be called the best year ever in regard to what we received as a family. Everyone had a lovely Santa who put time and effort in finding a great present. Everything was put together with love, and no one missed out (especially Max had a few no-shows in previous years).
The chicken
Ingrid had a lovely Santa who helped her feel like an absolute super heroine! She got a pretty awesome novelty egg cup, which will remind us of her awesomeness every time we eat one of her eggs. She also got a fantastic card that reads “I dream of a better world where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned”. This is double fitting since Ingrid has recently walked down towards the road which she isn’t allowed to. She’s probably having big dreams about crossing it, but there’s no way we’d let her.
Ingrid checking out her present.
The cat
Max was super lucky and so were we, because his Santa not only gave hime a super present for himself, but they’ve also added our favourite Lindt chocolate for him to share with us. It felt like they didn’t just research Max himself, but also investigate Kai and myself. Even the flavours were perfect.
For himself Max got two bags of fancy cat snacks (which we haven’t given to him yet) and a toy mouse. A toy mouse sounds like a pretty standard cat toy, but whoooah, this one is special. We really have no idea what makes it so fantastic (yes, it’s very pretty, but so are some other toys he has), but it’s his absolute most favourite toy ever. Every time he walks past he starts playing with it. He throws, bites, catches and licks it for much longer than he has ever played with any toy before. It’s certainly a big hit!
Max and his new favourite mouse.
Me
I absolutely love my present. I got quite a few very different things, each of them can be classified a being ‘totally me’. I got:
- an amazing card (with the best, most humbling message)
- a voucher to get a comic picture of my choice drawn by @FoxyLustyGrover (I’m currently thinking of getting Ingrid drawn, but maybe Max – I still have some time to decide)
- a brachiosaurus skeleton nanoblock set (I have a love-hate relationship to nanoblocks – I have a collection on my desk, but there are still two sets I haven’t built because I really have to be in a calm mood to do it. Hopefully I’ll get to it over Christmas)
- lebkuchen (best German style Christmas baked goods ever)
- heartsease seeds for my garden.
I personally think that I totally won this round of Twitter Secret Santa, but so do a lot of others. Really shows the high caliber of participants this year!
My fantastic gift.
Kai
Kai’s Santa was also very thoughtful: he got a pretty cool travel mug with a little note ‘For all your travels’. He also got some Chocolate and Russian Fudge, which is also pretty awesome. The message on this one read ‘For the russian side of you’, but we’re not quite sure what that hints at. Maybe Kai’s spy like Twitter handle of @agentK?
Kai’s presents.
The virtual resident
Traditionally our friend Jennifer in Australia takes part in NZ Twitter Secret Santa too. She’s an expat Kiwi and therefore totally allowed to do it; she uses our address to get the present sent to and we always do a Skype or Facetime unwrapping session.
I always feel a bit sorry for Jennifer’s Santa, since her present has to be brought over to Australia by Kai, who generally doesn’t like declaring food items at Biosecurity (so she can’t get anything edible) and he travels with hand-luggage only (so no liquids, nothing heavy). But her Santa applied stellar researching and crafting skills, and got her something small and light which doesn’t have to be declared when entering Australia:
- Two photo frames with a collection of pictures of Tom Hiddleston (who I don’t know, but Jennifer loves him) and quotes from Princess Bride (which I only have seen once, but Jennifer recognised all the quotes and loved them).
- An Iron Man Mr Potato Head.
All-in-all the most perfect presents for Jennifer!
Jennifer’s gifts.
Everyone else
Twitter Secret Santa isn’t all about giving and receiving. To me it’s also about watching what others got. Mainly to be amazed how much love and attention Santas put into their presents and how giftees react. Even those who had bad Santas are grateful for the sponsor gifts they’ve received and I also saw someone saying: “Looks like my #nzsecretsanta wasn’t able to send anything in. I hope they are ok. :o)”.
That’s the spirit of Twitter Secret Santa, and this is why I love it so much, regardless of what kind of presents we receive.
The presents are now all stacked-up under the Christmas tree, but I’m already looking forward to next year’s edition of Twitter Secret Santa!
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