Oh wow! I am absolutely blown away by this gift!

I was away for a few days over the weekend so I didn't get the package right when it arrived, but my Santa was nice enough to follow up with me through the messaging system and make sure I got it, which already made me smile... I really appreciate people going above and beyond the call of duty. Once I got home today and opened up the packages, it became clear that going above and beyond is this person's standard operating procedure, because the generosity was beyond my expectations.

I have trouble filling out questionnaires sometimes. I can't seem to find the happy medium between putting way too much information in, or way too little. But Santa was good at reading between the lines because everything was perfect for me. My two great loves in life are food/cooking, and technology, and all of my gifts reflected at least one of those aspects of my personality; one of them is right in the middle of the venn diagram where they meet!

I mentioned that I love tea, and I always have. So the first two gifts go together perfectly. The first is an assortment of 9 loose leaf teas, some of which are varieties I have never tried before. To go with it is an infuser basket large enough to fit a standard teapot. In the past I'd been using a french press for my tea making but it still let some of the tea leaves through, and it only made about half as much tea as a teapot would have. The new infuser fits in the teapots I already had and lets me use them for brewing instead. It's got an extremely fine mesh that doesn't let any of the tea leaves escape, which is perfect. I have already tried two of the varieties and it's great not having to pick little leaves out of the bottom of my cup! Funnily enough I actually recognized the brand name of the infuser, because I bought a little one with a silicon lid that replaces a teabag which I use at my desk at work, but I had no idea they made a larger model, so this was excellent. I'm forcing myself to use my willpower and not try any more of the varieties of tea until it snows here. Every new day of snowfall, and I can try another tea! :)

I also said that I like reading in the form. Well, what goes better on a snowy day with a cup of tea than a good novel? Nothing, that's what! Santa also got me a book called Daemon by Daniel Suarez, which the back cover says is about automated computer programs taking on a life of their own... or perhaps they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do, programmed by powerful people trying to exercise control over the population! Looks like a thriller about my favorite subject, so I am excited to read it! Same thing - waiting for the first snowfall, which ought to be any day now.

There's also a Google Home assistant. This is awesome for me too. I now have a "representative" from all of the Smart Assistants in my home... Cortana on my laptop, Siri on my phone, Alexa in my bedroom (not in a kinky way. Don't make this weird), and now Google in my living room. So far, Google is getting along well with all its new sisters, and based on my initial tests its microphone is way better than the others. I stood all the way across the room and whispered something and it still heard me. I can't wait to see what all it can do different from the others, and I now have a smart speaker listening to me in every room of my home. Hooray!

And that takes us to the pièce de résistance. If Santa hadn't already blown me away with their generosity, this would be enough to do so by itself. I got a Joule Sous Vide cooker! I have heard a lot about this new trend in cooking and I have been wanting to try it for a long time now, but I haven't had an opportunity. I was so excited to give it a shot after I unwrapped everything that before I did anything else - even take the photo! - I put my coat back on and ran down to WalMart to get some meat to try cooking with it. I am very excited to give this a whirl, and I'm really looking forward to getting to try this new technique I hear everyone talking about! I'm saving this one too... I'm cooking my Christmas Dinner with it!

Thank you SO MUCH, Santa! This is only my second year doing the exchange but it's been an amazing experience both years, and you really made me smile today! My jaw dropped when I opened everything... I couldn't believe how much you sent me and everything I opened was cooler than the thing that came before it.

I wasn't going to mention it, but I want you to know how much this means to me. This is actually the first Christmas I am spending without my father. He passed away earlier this year, very unexpectedly. I'm no Scrooge or Grinch, I love Christmas, but I still had a bit of a rain cloud hanging over me this year. I didn't really have any excitement brewing about Christmas like I normally would. You really brought that back for me, in a way that I didn't expect to experience until Christmas next year. So thank you. Thank you so much!

Merry Christmas Santa, to you and your family! May you experience even more joy this season than you brought me (which was already quite a lot!)