So last night I boarded an Amtrak train from Chicago and traveled all the way to Detroit, Michigan. The sole purpose of this trip was to retrieve my wonderful Secret Santa gifts. Ok, that's not true, but I asked my giftee to ship the loot to my folks house so that I could open everything at once (she had to stagger shipping and requested I wait until I had all the packages).

So 1 AM last night, I get to my parents house, drop my luggage, and start looking around for my Santa bounty. I found two of them last night and tore in and found the second one this morning. She really killed it. This is stuff I didn't expect, but totally love.

First of all, she sent me this lovely note.

Secondly, she got me a lovely anthology of Ray Bradbury short stories. I'm a big fan of Fahrenheit 451, but I've never read a single page of anything else he's written, so I'm excited to tear into that.

Thirdly, she got me this awesome, weird looking spatula. It's shaped differently from the other spatulas I've encountered in my day. I'm assuming the curve gives it extra....spatula-ness. I'm probably going to use it in assisting my mom with cooking our big Southern breakfast on Christmas day.

Last but not least, this one really touched me in that cold dark place where my heart is supposed to be. She sent me 5 comic books. But not just any 5 comic books. Five comic books hand picked from her personal collection. As a comic book lover and collector, I could never imagine parting with my books, so I was super touched by this. I've never read any of them and apart from Daredevil and Batman, I'm not even familiar with the titles, so I can't wait.

Thanks again Shinytoyguns617. You really made this a great exchange. Hope you have a great holiday.