I was a little nervous to sign up for the Nintendo exchange. I rambled on and on in my 'Notes to Santa' (as I always do), but I felt bad, figuring that everybody signing up had probably, y'know, actually played nintendo games. But I signed up and stressed my love affair with Pokemon (Magikarp 4eva).

I got an email saying my gift had shipped, and rushed to the redditgifts website to see if there was a tracking number - I'm obsessive about following tracking info (I wonder if I can list that as a hobby?). There was! And it was coming from the UK? Exciting!! So for days, I refreshed, and I waited.

Redditgifts has done wonders for my patience, so I'm just sayin', you have impatient friends? Get them to sign up.

Finally, the tracking info on NZPost updated to say it had arrived in the country - cue squees of excitement! Our postal system is actually pretty good, so it would only be a couple of days until it arrived, yay!

The day it did arrive (yesterday), it was pouring down and my courier man scolded me for running out in the rain to get my package instead of letting him bring it to my door ("You're going to get wet, why didn't you wait?!") LOL. Though in his defense, I have had a wretched cold for days now and have been melodramatically trying to convince everyone that I'm dying (I'm not good at being sick, okay?).

I usually try to avoid reading the customs note on my gifts to keep unboxing a surprise, but I happened to catch this one before I could remind myself - it said "Nintendo games". My first thought was 'Oh, maybe it's a boardgame! :D', my second thought was full of dread 'Oh no, maybe they didn't read that I don't own any Nintendo consoles...'

LO AND BEHOLD. My Santa wins everything in the world, because she sent me a Nintendo console.

A Nintendo DS Lite, to be precise!

I pulled the bubble wrap off it in disbelief and admired it for a moment, before pulling out the pretty letter my Santa had written and bursting into tears (I'm sick, don't judge!).

Not only had she sent me a DS, she'd also sent some games to go with it - Lego Batman, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Nintendogs!

I was so excited I tried each of them out ASAP - I had never even heard of the Mystery Dungeon game and it's super amazing (You get to play as a Pokemon? My childhood dreams come true!).

I have been lazing around nursing my cold and playing with my new toys since they arrived yesterday, which has been why my post has been delayed (Sorry Santa! I usually try to post as soon as gifts arrive).

I haven't been the only one enjoying gifts, though! Both of my cats are entirely enamored with the box LOL!

Thanks so much Santa, you went above and beyond any expectations or hopes for this exchange I may have had, and I love it so much.

<3