So, let's just be upfront about this - this post is going to be long. It has to be for you to fully understand the awesomeness of my Secret Santa and how their generosity and thoughtfulness turned around an otherwise horrible Christmas.

To start, my husband and I traveled 10 hours to my hometown to celebrate Christmas with my family. It was the first Christmas we had been able to travel home in 3 years. Because traffic was nuts, it ended up taking us an extra hour and half to get there. Upon arriving (late at night), we find out my little sister has been rushed to the ER with terrible mystery stomach pain. After much pain killers and lots of scans, she returns home in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning. About the same time we get a phone call from my husband's mother, saying his grandmother has passed away. For serious, folks. Oh, but there's more. We put my sister to bed and get started preparing Christmas dinner for my whole (huge) family. My dad, in particular has been cooking ALL DAY. The extended family arrives, we eat dinner, and as we're all conversing and wrapping the evening up, my dad disappears for awhile. Everyone slowly says their goodbyes, files out. We go find Dad, who announces that he thinks he's been having a heart attack, but didn't want to disturb everyone's Christmas. Cue ER Visit: Act II. We are in the ER from 10pm on Christmas Eve to 5am Christmas morning. They decide he's not having a heart attack (thank God), but they don't know what's up so he ends up getting admitted on Christmas Day. We all went home, napped, and then took his presents up there because, well, CHRISTMAS. Everything else was a blur because I got a terrible cold and ended up doped up on Benadryl for the final day of our trip. To wrap it up, we drove all 10 hours home today to attend tomorrow's funeral services for my husband's grandmother. sigh This. Has. Been. A. Horrible. Christmas.

So when I walked in and saw our mail sitting, waiting, on the hall table, I almost didn't want to open the package I saw waiting. I didn't have the energy, but I recalled having sent SS packages and the AGONY of waiting for someone to post about it, so I grabbed the kitchen shears and got to work cutting open the INSANE amount of packing tape. Seriously, most secure wrapping ever. Is there an award for that?

I open the package to find A MarioKart Backpack! Sweet! It's orange, and of the drawstring variety. Perfect for carrying a crochet project! Or snacks! Or... anything! But wait, there's goodies inside the backpack!

I dump out the contents to find SO MUCH LOOT! A Tardis balloon! 8 bit zombie-themed lapel buttons! A Sonic The Hedgehog Air Freshener! A fantastic Stormtrooper in a varsity jacket sticker! A BATMAN MIGHTY WALLET! A Portal Wristband! OMG does my SS know me in real life?! At this point, I am thrilled and have decided I am so happy I opened this package! What a day-brightener! Had the gifts stopped here, I would have declared this Secret Santa Exchange a huge success. Oh, but the gifts didn't stop there.

The next two packages had sweet little notes on them. "Xmas Can't Be Complete Without One of These!" What could it be?! It's The Testament of Sherlock Holmes for XBox! THIS IS AWESOME! I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, both of the original Sit Arthur Conan Doyle works, and the newer versions like Elementary and BBC's Sherlock. I am blown away by the amount of effort clearly put into this gift! Oh, but there's another package...

This ones says "It was kind of awkward waiting in line like this was a PS4 release, but I hope you enjoy it!" What in the world could this be?! :-O

You guys... MY SECRET SANTA BOUGHT ME THE URBAN DECAY NAKED 3 PALETTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cried. After everything we had been through in the last week, a perfect stranger from the internet touched my heart with one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. You clearly took the time to learn about me and pick out perfect gifts for me, and I cannot fully express to you how much this has meant to me. I am so sorry you've had to wait so long for me to post, but I literally grabbed my laptop out of the car so I could post ASAP and let you know all of this. I hope your generosity comes back to you twofold. You're my Christmas Angel, Secret Santa. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

TL;DR: My Christmas sucked. Arrived home to find the most thoughtful Secret Santa gift I've ever seen in the gallery. My Secret Santa deserves to win the lottery, and a puppy.