I was auto-rematched not long after the shipping deadline passed as my original Santa had not shipped anything yet. I got an email that my rematch Santa had pulled my information, and a few hours later I got a shipment notification. I have to admit at this point I was a little nervous—they shipped so fast, how could they have decided so quickly what to send me? Was I about to get a super generic gift?

I was out of town for the holiday and my house sitter notified me almost immediately that there was a slip from FedEx on the door that required me to go in to pick up my package. The day I got back was the last day they would hold it, so I rushed over to the FedEx office to grab it and they handed me a decent sized box, which caught me incredibly off guard. In all honesty I wasn't expecting to receive much, the exchange for me was more about sending someone a gift that would brighten their day, and if I got something small as well that would just be a nice bonus.

Let me tell you, this exceeded my wildest expectations. Immediately upon opening the box I was greeted with some pretty serious insulation foam packaging and a little peek of wrapping paper that was covered in little Google logos. It should be said that at this point I had to stop and sit down because I was freaking out just a little bit. Once I had calmed down I removed the shipping packaging to find a beautifully wrapped box with a note from the Google Store wishing me happy holidays and to keep creating. I carefully unwrapped the packaging...

...to a brand new Pixelbook.

I won't lie. I cried. I had had a rough day of travel and came home to find that my entire saltwater tank had died while I was away and I was a wreck, and this just hit me so hard. What on Earth had I done to deserve such a generous gift?

I'm a graphic designer and illustrator trying to start up my own Etsy shop this year and this will be so incredibly helpful. I have a tablet, but it is not easily portable and does not have a keyboard, which I've found I miss quite a lot. I've also begun integrating Google Home stuff into my house, and I think having the assistant on this will be very useful. This is so perfect for my needs. Just need to get a pen to go with it now so that I can keep creating ;)

Huge huge thank you to the folks at Google Store for this amazing gift, I'm absolutely floored. Merry Christmas!