Secret Santa Squee (and a quick fandomtrees PSA)
Quick PSA: fandomtrees is getting close to the originally scheduled reveal (1 more day), BUT there are still 30 trees that don't have the minimum of 2 gifts that are needed before trees can be revealed. If there are still needy trees at the end of the day Jan 4, opening will be pushed back a week. But there's still time to help out! Spreadsheet of needy trees with fandoms and requested mediums. Some fandoms being requested by still-needy trees are GoT/House of the Dragon, Harry Potter, Once Upon a Time, Buffy, The Tarot Sequence, Scholomance, White Collar, MCU, and Original Work. And of course more fills for other, less needy trees are welcome, too. (My tree is not needy -- I actually am feeling spoiled just looking at my unrevealed gifts on AO3! -- but it's here if anyone's looking :)
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But this post is mostly to brag about my gift from ikel89's epic annual Secret Santa exchange, from the wonderful lightofthewind/Julinha <3 -- thank you so much!!
It arrived, with perfect timing, on the day when we were opening leftover gifts for the kids (well, "kids"), and so meant that I got to open something too! :D And what a package to open!
Look at all these things!
I could barely even fit all the commestibles in one photo!
I mentioned in my Santa questionnaire that I enjoy trying local things, as well as various jams and chocolate with fruit, and Julinha certainly delivered -- this was like walking through my favorite aisles at shop when visiting a new location, only better because I didn't have to debate whether I should get something to try, I could just go ahead and try it! :D Clockwise from the top: fig jam, chocolate-covered fruity yogurt (the blackcurrant are my favorite!), very aromatic mango-peach black tea, coconut and chili/lime dark chocolate (I've tried the chili-lime and it's great! both a combination I've never encountered before and one that I like a lot!), chocolate with hazelnut (my favorite nut!), more fruity-nutty chocolate, super-frothy strawberry parfaits in chocolate (a kind of treat I've never encountered before, which is extra-neat! One of them cracked in transit, but that just provided the perfect excuse to EAT IT IMMEDIATELY, and it was incredibly fresh and soft), a neat marmalade-and-nut spread which is also something I've not encountered before, and which went on my breakfast toast this morning. So this was all excellent and yummy, but there was MORE!
The non-edible parts of the present:
I mentioned in my questionnaire that I like rodents and other small critters like hedgehogs, and was very charmed that Julinha mentioned that her rodent quest even made her fonder of rodents, heh. I love the holiday mouse! -- it has now been installed next to our New Year tree, to be friends with the Santa-mouse. And the hedgehog is so tiny and adorable -- look!
It is now living on a shelf with a lot of tiny mouse friends :D
I love the amethyst bracelet Julinha found, and have been wearing it pretty much ever since it arrived -- it's super comfortable and a very satisfying weight. And it turns out to be an eerily perfect match for the color of the shirt I've been wearing a lot this winter, so, bonus!
The cute reindeer tin (which itself arrived in a very cute box you can see on the first picture -- I'm loving the little boxes!) contains a candle with a lovely understated scent.
And the book, with the cool swirly cover and the matching swirly postcard, is a collection of poetry, translated from the Portuguese. Pessoa is not a poet I'd heard of before, but it's really neat to encounter formal, rhymed poetry that's brand new to me, so that's a win! I've leafed through the book and enjoyed some of the poems on their own already, but am looking forward to reading the book properly, with the included reading guide for context. The back copy mentions Pessoa as a "self-pronounced 'super-Camões'", which is very interesting to me! See, when Julinha's card mentioned Portuguese poetry in connection to history, my first thought was -- The Lusiads? Because I've actually read The Lusiads (by de Camões) in uni, as part of my Renaissance Lit class/minor. But no, even better! NEW-to-me poetry that's apparently in conversation with de Camões :) (And I have a particular interest in formal poetry in translation, having taken a crack at it myself, so that part also appeals.)
And a second very cool bookmark, where the coolest part is actually on the back:
It's from the oldest bookstore in the world (my Italian was enough to parse that, lol), which is super neat! :D
Thank you so much for all the neat and lovely and yummy things, Julinha, and all the thought and care that went into this package! And I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance through the magic of K's Santa tradtion <3
*
But this post is mostly to brag about my gift from ikel89's epic annual Secret Santa exchange, from the wonderful lightofthewind/Julinha <3 -- thank you so much!!
It arrived, with perfect timing, on the day when we were opening leftover gifts for the kids (well, "kids"), and so meant that I got to open something too! :D And what a package to open!
Look at all these things!
I could barely even fit all the commestibles in one photo!
I mentioned in my Santa questionnaire that I enjoy trying local things, as well as various jams and chocolate with fruit, and Julinha certainly delivered -- this was like walking through my favorite aisles at shop when visiting a new location, only better because I didn't have to debate whether I should get something to try, I could just go ahead and try it! :D Clockwise from the top: fig jam, chocolate-covered fruity yogurt (the blackcurrant are my favorite!), very aromatic mango-peach black tea, coconut and chili/lime dark chocolate (I've tried the chili-lime and it's great! both a combination I've never encountered before and one that I like a lot!), chocolate with hazelnut (my favorite nut!), more fruity-nutty chocolate, super-frothy strawberry parfaits in chocolate (a kind of treat I've never encountered before, which is extra-neat! One of them cracked in transit, but that just provided the perfect excuse to EAT IT IMMEDIATELY, and it was incredibly fresh and soft), a neat marmalade-and-nut spread which is also something I've not encountered before, and which went on my breakfast toast this morning. So this was all excellent and yummy, but there was MORE!
The non-edible parts of the present:
I mentioned in my questionnaire that I like rodents and other small critters like hedgehogs, and was very charmed that Julinha mentioned that her rodent quest even made her fonder of rodents, heh. I love the holiday mouse! -- it has now been installed next to our New Year tree, to be friends with the Santa-mouse. And the hedgehog is so tiny and adorable -- look!
It is now living on a shelf with a lot of tiny mouse friends :D
I love the amethyst bracelet Julinha found, and have been wearing it pretty much ever since it arrived -- it's super comfortable and a very satisfying weight. And it turns out to be an eerily perfect match for the color of the shirt I've been wearing a lot this winter, so, bonus!
The cute reindeer tin (which itself arrived in a very cute box you can see on the first picture -- I'm loving the little boxes!) contains a candle with a lovely understated scent.
And the book, with the cool swirly cover and the matching swirly postcard, is a collection of poetry, translated from the Portuguese. Pessoa is not a poet I'd heard of before, but it's really neat to encounter formal, rhymed poetry that's brand new to me, so that's a win! I've leafed through the book and enjoyed some of the poems on their own already, but am looking forward to reading the book properly, with the included reading guide for context. The back copy mentions Pessoa as a "self-pronounced 'super-Camões'", which is very interesting to me! See, when Julinha's card mentioned Portuguese poetry in connection to history, my first thought was -- The Lusiads? Because I've actually read The Lusiads (by de Camões) in uni, as part of my Renaissance Lit class/minor. But no, even better! NEW-to-me poetry that's apparently in conversation with de Camões :) (And I have a particular interest in formal poetry in translation, having taken a crack at it myself, so that part also appeals.)
And a second very cool bookmark, where the coolest part is actually on the back:
It's from the oldest bookstore in the world (my Italian was enough to parse that, lol), which is super neat! :D
Thank you so much for all the neat and lovely and yummy things, Julinha, and all the thought and care that went into this package! And I'm very pleased to make your acquaintance through the magic of K's Santa tradtion <3