My Santa messaged me a couple weeks back and let me knower had stuff in common and that she'd be working on it. I was super excited to hear from her, and even more excited to hear she lives in England! She originally planned for 2 packages, and wanted me to wait until I had them both, but it ended up being 4 and she decided to let me open them as they came.

The first package came before she decided to let me open them as they came. It had DO NOT OPEN in the address and it taunted me for the longest time. Finally, she let me open it and I was SHOCKED. She got me a custom leather camera strap hand stamped with the Tolkien quote, "Not all those who wander are lost" and a leather luggage tag with my initials and city and state, and there was a note saying this gift had my favorite color, one of my favorite authors, and fit my love of travel and photography. Basically, it was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.

THEN she gifted me gold!

The second gift came on Christmas Eve, just as my daughter and I were leaving for a party. She got me the HONY book! I adore the Humans of New York series, and almost purchased the book for myself, but had decided to wait until after the holiday season. I didn't know many people at the party, so I brought it with me and kept myself entertained. I've spent a couple hours looking it over and love it.

The third gift was the package from England. She'd thought it was coming later (so she let me open the other gifts), but ended up getting expedited shipping. When I checked tracking it said it was delayed until January 2, so I was surprised when it came the day after Christmas! Omg, I couldn't believe what I saw when I opened it. It was huge and packed full of beautifully wrapped lovelies. I opened the first envelope to see a "holiday armadillos" themed card. I love Friends, and that was one of my favorite episodes! Then I slowly made my way through reading all the sweet notes and opening all the packages. Forgive my cell phone pics over the box. Many of the packages had dried lavender and roses in it, so I opened it over the box to save it to put in my daughter's room (she just got pet rats, it helps the smell). Throughout, there were fun things like Harry Potter and world tattoos, seed bombs, glow in the dark stars, etc. She sent me Dr Organic manuka honey lotion (which, as a nursing student who washes her hands a billion times, I found this fantastic) and snail gel (which sounds gross, but is one of my favorite skincare ingredients and feels divine on!), an adorable can of London air, a big package of giant Lindt and Green & Black's chocolate bars in every variety imaginable with a note saying, "in my defense, I didn't know what you liked, so I sent it all" (btw, never defend yourself for sending too much chocolate!), sweet heart shaped rocks from the beaches of Israel, a darling mini jar with the word "peace" inside, disposable cameras (which my daughter and I will definitely be using in Hawaii this summer of we haven't used them already!), English tea and directions on history make it properly, and a bunch of raw hide bones and rope toys for my husky and English mastiff (which they've been VERY excited about). She also sent a ton of fun postcards and newspapers and a magnet after I'd mentioned I'd love a bonus postcard after finding out she was in England. She'd asked me about any charities near and dear to my heart, and I couldn't believe she donated to all 3 I had told her about! I traveled to Cambodia last spring and fell in love with the country and people and heartbroken at the same time to see them struggle to put the country back together after the war. I stayed in the Seven Candles guesthouse in Siem Reap with an incredible woman and her family. Her name is Ponheary Ly and she was a survivor of the killing fields. She started the Ponheary Ly Foundation, which helps kids go to school by providing them with books, uniforms, bicycles, and medical care. It's an amazing foundation, and I plan on going back to volunteer in the area when I graduate nursing school. When bussing around the country, I couldn't believe the conditions of the few medical centers there. I remember passing a young woman sitting in a dirt field outside a clinic (with minimal electricity) in a folding chair with a pole with IV fluids hanging. Many don't even have access to that level of care. My Santa was generous enough to also donate to the CCF (Cambodian Children's Fund), which was actually founded by former film exec Scott Neeson, who visited Phnom Penh in 2003, and was so affected by the visit he started the foundation. They work to provide education, nutrition, healthcare, and safe shelter to children in need. I highly recommend you look them up! The last one she donated to was Hamlin Fustula USA, which I first learned about from the OPB documentary, "A Walk to Beautiful" (available free online and definitely worth watching!). The hospital is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and they treat and rehabilitate women who developed child birth injuries, which are common over there because women are such hard laborers and their bodies often aren't fully developed before they begin carrying children. The hospital was founded by a sweet couple from Australia and New Zealand, who planned on a short term trip, but found the need so great they stayed. The woman is now a widow and said fondly in the documentary that her husband would still be working there if he were alive. They're also amazing because they don't acceot volunteers because the unemployment rate is so high they prefer to train locals to do the work. The last gift was a Pentax ME Super!!! I used to have a camera very similar that belonged to my grandfather, but when I moved away to college I left it home since I only made one trip and decided to wait until later, but then it wasn't saved after my grandmother's house was sold. I'd admitted to my Santa that I've been lazy and doing digital, but now that I have this gem, I think it's time to get back into film!!! She was also kind enough to send it loaded with film in a camera bag with spare film and batteries. Seriously, she thought of everything.

The last package arrived today. Another redditor had posted that they'd received a world map that you scratch off countries as you visit, and I'd commented that I'd given one as a gift to my ex boyfriend, and that sometimes I wish I could have it back. Today I got my very own, and I can't wait to hang it up and get to work on scratching more countries off!

I am overwhelmed at the incredible thoughtfulness and generosity of this gift. I'm a single parent, and don't have much family, so I thought it'd be fun to sign up and be able to gift a stranger, and maybe receive a gift, but I never expected anything like this. She put so much thought and effort into the gifts, and I feel really blessed that a stranger would do that for me. My daughter left on Christmas to go spend some time with her dad before school starts back up, and I was feeling down, and her thoughtfulness saved the day! I can't say thank you enough, and I can't wait to get my first roll of film developed! I keep going through all the little quotes and notes in the box because I can't believe how wonderful it all is. Thank you, Santa!!!