The gnomes exchange was a truly awesome exchange for me, I had so much fun picking out suitable gnomes for my giftee and was thrilled to see he liked them!

I signed up for this exchange for my dad, we have HUNDREDS of gnomes because he absolutely loves them. It's become a big of a family joke, our front garden is filled with them hiding in trees and bushes, our living room has gnome tables and stools and the back garden has gnome candles and everything gnome themed you can imagine!

So I was so excited for the gnome exchange, because these exchanges never fail to bring something awesome!

My santa didn't pick up my info, I watched it throughout the exchange wondering if they would but not really concerned. And then the shipping deadline passed and they still hadn't picked it up and I was given a rematch santa instead! Which, to be honest, I was excited about. I've done a lot of rematching, but never experienced it from the side of a giftee so was eager to see what happened! (spoiler: it was AWESOME!)

I went away with my family to Canada, secure in my excitement that something amazing was going to happen with my rematch. Canada, by the way, is amazing. We're from the UK and have never been to Canada before, but went to Vancouver with no idea of what to expect and we loved it, my dad in particular. He is already planning another, even longer, trip there next year!

We came home, and went away again briefly, and a month passed since I was rematched and it was (very speedily) marked as shipped. I saw my rematch santa picking up my info and felt bad that I hadn't received anything to post about yet...

And then it happened.

I had absolutely no clue what was in the nice big box which arrived, could it be my Nic Cage gift arriving already?! Inside that box was another box, which was exciting and very pass the parcel like!

I was about to rip into that box when I saw the gnome stamp on the side of it, and had to make myself resist. The way for my dad to get home from work was long and torturous, but I managed it. Just. Somehow...

But it was worth it for the look on my dad's face when he opened the box, not knowing what it was. He was so happy to have a new gnome, even more so that it was Canadian themed! He can now show his newfound love for Canada in true British style!

He wouldn't let me get a photo of him with the gnome, but insisted we immediately go and find the perfect place for it in the garden and made me take a photo (okay, LOTS of photos) of it there!

He ended up in his new home in our front garden, with some new friends, where my dad can easily see him by glancing out of his study window!

So, to wrap this up, whoever you are my mystery rematch santa - thank you. From my dad, but also from me because you really made him happy. You totally aced my first rematching experience and I love you for it.