It was just like any other afternoon, toiling away in my small, brightly lit cubicle on the 18th floor of a nondescript Manhattan skyscraper. I glanced towards one of the wall-to-ceiling glass windows in search of inspiration, only to notice the sun had already set. Pitch black at 4pm. As is life during winter, I suppose.

The sound of the mailroom cart coming down the hallway was faint but not out of the ordinary. I nearly forgot it existed until a FedEx box was placed on the edge of my desk. The attendant pushing the cart didn't even pause, packages are routine for him. But they're certainly not routine for me. Today was a special day. Today, my secret santa gift had arrived.

I checked the return address first - Hannah from San Diego. Another girl from California on Reddit! We're, like, unicorns or something.

I carefully opened the cardboard box and pulled out a pile of gifts adorned in red wrapping paper with zebras and tied together with a thick silver ribbon. I almost started opening the presents right then and there until I noticed an envelope sitting at the bottom of the cardboard box.

Inside the envelope was a typed letter with a Christmas tree border. The letter was folded into 3 parts, with one section folded and taped with clear instructions not to remove the tape until I'd opened my gifts. I was intrigued, but also determined to respect the wishes of my secret santa.

The top, non-taped section of the letter was very sweet - Hannah sounded like she was a thoughtful and genuinely kind person. My gifts were labeled in the order they were to be opened and again, not wanting to go against my secret santa's wishes, I obliged.

I could tell the first gift was a book before I opened it, but it was definitely not what I expected - "Simple Knitting: A Complete How-to-Knit Workshop with 20 Projects". YAAAAAS FUN DO IT YOURSELF CRAFTS!! I've been meaning to learn to knit, so this was particularly exciting.

Gift #2 was a pair of stitch holders and knitting needles. The instructional book was clearly not given to me just for the pretty pictures, I was obviously being equipped for a knitting project.

Gift #3 really did me in. A how-to guide called "Knit Your Own Cat". At this juncture I realized this could only mean many feline knitting projects were in my immediate future. A fine idea, indeed.

The last wrapped gift said "Open Whenever" and I figured now technically counted as "whenever". 2 tubes of long-lasting pink lip gloss. Fabulous!!

To top things off, my secret santa threw in a few catnip toys for my actual cats. Catnip is their shit, you don't even know.

All my gifts had been opened, in the proper sequence, so I felt it was an appropriate a time as ever to read the taped section of Hannah's letter. She sent her well wishes, told me the lip gloss was her favorite shade, and she purposely include any yarn for knitting because it was up to me to select the colors.

A delightful and welcome intrusion in my otherwise unremarkable afternoon. Thank you, Hannah. You rock.