OH BOY the doorbell rings. On a Sunday?

I start heading down the stairs.

Listen, while I slowly make my way down these stairs, I want to throw out there that early this year I had a freak accident that led to me being diagnosed with Cluster Headaches, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Occipital Neuralgia... it's been a tough year for my husband and I, trying to sort out how to manage. It holds me back from a lot of normal things, which I mentioned in my post to my Santa ('G' as he calls himself) because there's just some things I can't do... Like I really can't eat anything hard or crunchy, or even chewy. And I spend a lot of my time in bed resting, or in pain.

The last two weeks have been particularly painful, and I've been in what us Cluster Headache Patients call "a cycle"... I'd honestly been in bed for most of that two weeks, pain attacks four or five times a day, plus pain in between from my other disorders... I was exhausted.

I don't tell you this to be a downer, I'm telling you this because after two weeks of pain, this gift arrived at LITERALLY the perfect time. The. Next. Day. I was going to see my Neurologist for a painful needle-in-the-face proceedure called a Nerve Block that would save Christmas by stopping my cycle of pain. However, this gift saved Christmas first.

Phew, alright. Now that I'm finally downstairs, let's get on with the story!

I opened the door to find a package with Amazon tape on it sitting on my porch.

My first thought was "What? Mail on a Sunday?" And then "Damn, Amazon has picked up its game."

But then I noticed the subtle ribbon of "NOT" written all along the Amazon tape and the Snoo drawn in the corner and I'll tell you I RAN up the stairs. (Ow ow ow goes my head)

"HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I shouted and he shot up in bed thinking something horrible had happened "LOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"A package from Amazon. Okay...?" He said sleepily

"NO! LOOK!!!" And I pointed at the Snoo in the corner.

Then he got excited too because he knew I'd signed up for SS. We put the gift on the bed and started examining it. No return label. Just my address and a Reddit Alien. 'G' even took the time to put the "Not" along the bottom of the box! I just knew this was going to be thoughtful.

"So... You going to open it or what?"

"YES!!!!!"

I opened the gift up to a card and wrapping paper, my cat was already trying to help me open things.

"Patience, Loki, cards first." He looked at me with sad eyes. He's the wrapping paper ripper in the family as you'll see in the video, and wrapping paper is always the cats gift, am-I-right?

The card was adorable, and when I opened it up I literally said, "Holy crap!" aloud because it was completely filled and even some on the back!!!

He said in the first part that everything he got was hyper local to where he lived in Toronto, and I was really excited because I grew up for 20 years in a city just north of Toronto so I love TO!!!! He also said he used to take care of someone with chronic illness so he knows what it's like from the caregiver side and what someone with chronic pain goes through. I thought it was so touching for him to share such an intimate detail of his life with me.

'G' started telling me about the gifts that were sent so I didn't want to ruin the surprise and I put aside the card to read once I had opened each gift, so I pulled off the top piece of paper to reveal some amazing gifts!!

First thing I pulled out was this SICK adult onsie!!! It's totally my style, all these awesome winter sports, skating and skiing and HELLS YEAH Tobogganing! (That's a sport right?). I knew what I had to do. I could not open another gift without adorning my adult onsie. So on it went, and on went the sweet mother of god of comfort..!

I can totally picture myself wearing this when I'm sick (I refer to being in pain as being sick) and wanting to just cozy up. I actually have worn it the last two nights to bed, and it is seriously the best sleep of my life. I've never had a onsie before (well, not since I was a child) but now I don't know why we ever give them up.

Next up was a gift labeled for my husband, and he was sitting there anxiously looking at me and then looking at the gift then looking back at me again. So I said, "fiiiinneee, you can open up yours next."

It was a beautiful bottle of craft beer from Bellwoods Brewery (with a badass label I might add). Turns out 'G' is a Craft Beer Writer and this was a Special Release from a couple weeks ago. He said to have it for dessert as it has a Black Forest Cake kind of taste, but isn't overly sweet. Sounds yummy! My husband is so thankful, and I am really grateful, I know it sounds cliché, but he truly is my best friend. He puts in so much time and effort to take care of me every single day. He's one of those kinds of people who puts his best into everything and never gives up. He gives the best hugs in the world when I'm sick, gets up at all hours of the night with me, and still works a full time job. He's absolutely, 100% my hero. (And he's getting spoiled this Christmas with silly little things, shhh)

So next up was this gift that my cat was dying to open and ripping the paper off it, so I thought maybe it was for him. He must know how to read because it was a jam from a café called 'Kitten and Bear'! It's Chocolate and Strawberry jam, 'G' says its from close by to him. It's so delicious but I'll save that for the end.

The package beside it was Earl Grey Tea from the same café. The smell of this tea is exactly what you want it to be, such a warm hug on a cold day... I didn't tell 'G' about this but I eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches every day for breakfast with a big mug of tea and my medications. So I planned to have some as soon as I was finished opening everything.

The next two gifts were these extremely thoughtful books. One was a book on Buddhism that 'G' says is clear of religious dogma, but teaches you to be aware and the art of being mindful. As part of my treatment I actually take courses at the Pain Clinic on Mindfulness and it has helped me a lot so I can't wait to dive into this book and share it with my husband (Perhaps I can convince him to read it to me :P).

Lastly, I think I must have mentioned to 'G' how important relaxation is to my disorders and this gift was so thoughtful and perfect, I am so excited to use it. It's a colouring book, made by a local artist in Toronto of different cityscapes from around the world... The artwork inside is breathtaking and it's so nice to even just look at. I think of colouring as such a meditative thing, and 'G' said he feels the same way about it... I already have a collection of about five or six colouring books that I love, and I discovered them when I was in the hospital earlier this year.

Overall, this box was filled to the brim with beautifully thoughtful gifts from 'G' and I couldn't believe my eyes opening this present up. While I watched Loki play with the wrapping paper I'm enjoying a cup of delicious tea and a strawberry chocolate jam sandwich (Holy crap, who made this jam? Angels??)

Thank you so much 'G,' I hope you have a beautiful, restful Christmas and a great New Year. I have enjoyed talking with you over messages and I am so thankful to have had such a thoughtful and understanding Secret Santa.

Merry Christmas Santa!!!!! <3