Gifting, Extreme Edition
So thanks to the wonders of ikel89's annual santa exchange, I just received a holiday gift from a "secret" santa. The packages from this tradition are always delightful, but this time my friend Anna (hamsterwoman) went to santa-extremes. To be "fair" about half of these gifts count as birthday presents for my January birthday instead of holiday gifts, but it's still utterly overwhelming (in a good way, of course).
It arrived on Monday, but it arrived quite late so I didn't even finish opening all of it until the following day!
Finally unwrapped all the things on Tuesday!
And then I finally had time to sort through the endless awesomeness yesterday:
There were assorted bath things, all of which smell like perfect sweet sugary goodness.
Two new Terry Pratchett books, one standalone from the Discworld series and one YA novel. Looking forward to reading both!
A seemingly endless supply of dark chocolate. As of now I had the bar with the cookie spread filling, which was quite tasty, and Anders and I both had some of the See's candies (he is not a dark chocolate fan so we agreed it was only fair that he have most of the milk chocolates in there).
A word game, days of the week clips, bath bombs, a great alpaca magnet ("Wanna picnic? Alpaca lunch."), and guinea pig luggage tags that I had no idea I needed in my life, but I really do!! It just wouldn't be a proper honeymoon without them, so thank you, Anna, for thinking of the details. ;)
Hair ties, an Austria magnet (my grandma was born in Austria and hamsterwoman has been to visit), and some really lovely earrings. I love both pairs and it's so neat that one pair is made by Anna's daughter.
Speaking of Anna's daughter, the most amazing of this very amazing gift package has to be the tea tin pictured above. (The mana-tea strainer, candle, and teavana cider in this picture are also lovely, of course).
But this tea tin is the cutest/coolest thing ever. It has pictures of guinea pigs all over it (as well as a suspicious feline...!) and Anna made an adorable menu describing each tea bag included. Anders and I shared a cup of the pomegranate raspberry green tea, which seemed to taste especially divine with this blueberry honey we had gotten from the Bee Folks at the Maryland Renaissance Faire. Definitely excited to try more of the flavors featured.
As if that wasn't enough great stuff for a person to handle, there was also a very sweet card and a super informative note on graph paper.
In conclusion, Anna's level of generosity and good taste is too high for this world. Thank you again for bringing something sweet and happy to my December and my 2016. You're the best. And apparently my soulmate. ;)
It arrived on Monday, but it arrived quite late so I didn't even finish opening all of it until the following day!
Finally unwrapped all the things on Tuesday!
And then I finally had time to sort through the endless awesomeness yesterday:
There were assorted bath things, all of which smell like perfect sweet sugary goodness.
Two new Terry Pratchett books, one standalone from the Discworld series and one YA novel. Looking forward to reading both!
A seemingly endless supply of dark chocolate. As of now I had the bar with the cookie spread filling, which was quite tasty, and Anders and I both had some of the See's candies (he is not a dark chocolate fan so we agreed it was only fair that he have most of the milk chocolates in there).
A word game, days of the week clips, bath bombs, a great alpaca magnet ("Wanna picnic? Alpaca lunch."), and guinea pig luggage tags that I had no idea I needed in my life, but I really do!! It just wouldn't be a proper honeymoon without them, so thank you, Anna, for thinking of the details. ;)
Hair ties, an Austria magnet (my grandma was born in Austria and hamsterwoman has been to visit), and some really lovely earrings. I love both pairs and it's so neat that one pair is made by Anna's daughter.
Speaking of Anna's daughter, the most amazing of this very amazing gift package has to be the tea tin pictured above. (The mana-tea strainer, candle, and teavana cider in this picture are also lovely, of course).
But this tea tin is the cutest/coolest thing ever. It has pictures of guinea pigs all over it (as well as a suspicious feline...!) and Anna made an adorable menu describing each tea bag included. Anders and I shared a cup of the pomegranate raspberry green tea, which seemed to taste especially divine with this blueberry honey we had gotten from the Bee Folks at the Maryland Renaissance Faire. Definitely excited to try more of the flavors featured.
As if that wasn't enough great stuff for a person to handle, there was also a very sweet card and a super informative note on graph paper.
In conclusion, Anna's level of generosity and good taste is too high for this world. Thank you again for bringing something sweet and happy to my December and my 2016. You're the best. And apparently my soulmate. ;)