This is the first gift I've received from this round of exchanges, and the two days between getting the slip in my letterbox and actually being able to make it to the post office while they were open (they never react very well to the CCTV footage of me banging on the window and crying at midnight) were sheer anticipatory agony. With all three gifts en route, which one would this be? Would I have delicious snacks to hoard and nibble at? Would I have a new book to curl up with in this very rainy season? Or would I have a new soft scarf to keep me warm through winter?

Today I trudged home through the rain with only the post office in my thoughts. The slip was in my bag, and my ID was at the ready. I queued for the traditional 17 hours, and at last! The package was mine! I knew straight away which gift this was. No snack has ever been this squishy. No book has ever been so abundant in softness. I had myself a glorious scarf.

I floated home as if in a dream. Cars stopped for me, schoolboys turned to stare, because I was walking on air. No longer would I need to carry on wearing last year's scarves. No longer would I have to face the cruel jests of my peers as they sported the latest fashions. I was about to start my new life as a bescarved human being.

It may be important to note here that I am, in fact, a nerd. But I do not flaunt this knowledge to the uncultured. In public, my nerdery is subtle. I therefore indicated to my Santa that, in the case of nerdy fashions, subtlety was key. Little suspecting that Santa would rise to the occasion in such a way, what did I discover when I was finally able to open my precious package? A lovely scarf, of course, but also a replica of that which was once sported by that most whimsical of Gallifreyans, the Fourth Doctor. And who will know, but those like me, that I am paying tribute to a universe other than our own?

Thank you, Santa. This gift has ninja-level subtlety, and I will wear it until its stitches no longer hold together.

TL;DR: Santa delivered. An awesome scarf.