THANK YOU, SANTA!!

I wish I could legit hug the crap out of my lovely Santa!! She admitted early on that we didn't have many similar interests, but that didn't stop her from doing an absolutely FANTASTIC job with picking out two perfect gifts for me! One gift idea came to her immediately once she saw one of my silly interests, and the other was suggested to her by a friend who she knew could help. Isn't it awesome when Santas are resourceful? :)

My two gifts are two books entitled "Hot Chocolate" and "A Theory of Fun (for Game Design)." The former is an adorable-looking cookbook filled with hot chocolate recipes, which is the perfect choice for me, because I have a legitimate obsession with hot chocolate. I drink it even when it's 100 degrees outside. I'm pretty sure it's some medical issue that everyone thinks is too cute to diagnose. I'll end up in a ho-cho coma one of these days. BUT NOT TODAY. I also mentioned that I really like trying weird and funny flavors, so a cookbook FILLED with flavors I've never even thought of is exactly what I need (my boyfriend may disagree, but what can ya do).

My other gift is a super exciting and fun-ducational book about the theory behind video game design. Both my boyfriend and I immediately "oooh"-ed at the foreword by Will Wright (the creator of The Sims franchise), and it was hard for me not to read it all the way through right then and there. I told my Santa that I'm working on learning how to create video games, and while I LOVE what I'm learning so far, it can get... a little tedious. This book is anything BUT tedious--it's seriously fun to read, and inspires me to keep going, even when I get to the somewhat less exciting nitty gritty. In her note to me, my Santa admitted this isn't her area of expertise, but a game design friend of hers highly recommended it! I really love that she didn't just ignore this part of my questionnaire just because she wasn't familiar with it, and instead went above and beyond to find me the perfect gift.

Thank you A MILLION times, Santa!! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your gifts, and what an ideal 1st Arbitrary Day this has been for me, thanks to you. I hope your Santa is just as thoughtful and generous as you were to me!

P.S. These are what her very sweet notes in the pictures said: 1. "A game designer friend recommended this to me to buy for you--so I hope it's worth it! It looks like a fun book and I hope you have the best of luck with your game! :)" 2. "Hello! I hope you enjoy your gift, as soon as I saw you liked hot chocolate I knew I had to get you this book. There's some recipes inside with some interesting ingredients--so enjoy!"