Thank you Sara for the wonderful Secret Santa gift!
This week, I received my gift from the lovely Sara/cyanshadow. I have to say, the amount of thought and love put into this gift blew me away, and I can only hope to be as good a Santa next year. Thank you so much Sara, for your thoughtfulness in picking these gifts, and for your long and lovely letter. I was smiling giddily while reading it :D
And now *drum roll* for what was in the pakige, for all interested parties ;)
First thing Sara did was take my mention of having a sweet tooth to the full extent, packing her gift lots and lots of delicious goodies, all of which I'm having the most amazing time trying out! I'm loving everything so far! :D While I did share bits here and there with my coworkers, (because I felt too guilty not to!), everything packed was so delicious that I've kept the lione's share to myself! ;)
Some photos below:
Sara packed a lot of the Japanese candy she liked, as well as pear-flavoured hard candy. I've found all of them great so far, thank you so much for the variety. My favourite out of these are these packet below, which seem to be peanut brittle of the Lite(TM) variety. Peanut brittle is something I really love, so of course Lite peanut brittle was the best of the both worlds, and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the rice krispie-like treats! And the hard candy I keep in my desk at work for eating while doing paperwork ;)
Also, look at the cutest little knitted purple stress ball! Actually, it's so useful, Sara, because my hands always get cramped in the winter when I exercise, and then I can't draw, because the cold sets into the muscles or something I guess. So this ball is the perfect device to get my fingers working again. So, really thank you for that :D
And then we've got...
Sara did something really lovely and thoughtful but getting me candy from her local Seattle chocolatiers, along with a beauuuuutiful postcard. The chocolate was not only delicious, but also beautifully wrapped. The wrapping for Brisk Mountain Mint was in fact so beautiful that I've kept it to frame it up. Also, inside the wrapping is a little description of the owner of the company and their fair trade policy, which I thought was really cool! Also, the little brown box is salted caramel chocolate, which was also a wonderful treat! I loved that salt-sweet contrast.
As if that wasn't enough, Sara also spoiled me with this gorgeously wrapped package...
What was inside, you ask?
Books, of course! Specifically, the To The Max version of Lumberjanes, which is an extra special edition of volume 1, with all sort of added goodies like special issue covers and tidbits. And Anya's Ghost! So, I'd read a few issues of Lumberjanes here and there but not in a coherent order, and I've always wanted to read Anya's Ghost ever since I saw a review of it once, so these are perfect book gifts!
Some sneak peaks of inside the books, some panels and cover art I liked ;)
I haven't finished either book yet, but I am starting my winter vacation tonight, so I'm hoping to roll through both of these by the weekend. In summary, thank you so much for this gift, Anya! I loved unravelling every bit of it, and I'm so touched by the thought you put into this. Also, I really loved how you explained your thought process behind each gift in the letter you sent, it really touched me. Thanks so much for being an awesome Santa, and I hope you have an amazing day and holidays!