So, on the eve of the 16th, a little elf, dressed like an Italian post employe, knocked on my door, and delivered my much expected, thought of as missing for good, secret Santa gift, which arrived all the way from New Zealand!!! Right at the point where I've almost lost my faith in humanity, my secret Santa (which I will not name unless asked to by her...) has pulled through and restored my faith in people, and in all things chocolaty and sweet :) In the box, brightly colored with orange striped proclaiming its origins from the New Zealand post, were several small boxes, all wrapped up with recycled brown paper (my choice of wrapping paper too), and a note on top of the largest box (see images, it's not hard to guess...). I've started with smaller parcels (we like to keep what seems to be the best for last, no??) and out of the first one came out what I thought to be a toy lizard!! I was later educated that it was not, in fact, a lizard, but pretty much a living dinosaur, found only on some small islands off the shore of new Zealand. Of course my 5 year old son, Gionathan, an addict of all things dinosaur, lizards and snakes, have proclaimed it as its own. The second wrapping contained a necklace with green hued stone, and what do you know, my 6 year old daughter, Giulia, has snatched that one right up, and made it her own, and in fact she wore it to school today. I was only so lucky with the largest box of them all, as it was a nice looking box, filled with chocolate candy, a traditional type, I'm assured, for the New Zealand Christmas. I was so lucky in that my kids (Giulia and Gionathan) don't like chocolate as such, and my third (Daniel) is just 6 months old, so no worried there, and I can attest to the fact that after a midnight session with some Shire Halfling's leaf, the contents of the box magically found its way into my belly. I enjoyed them a lot, especially the mint filled ones :) Last, but not least, there was a bar of chocolate, dotted with poprocks, which was not only very tasty, but also gave me a blast from the past... I love poprocks!!

I would like to thanks my Santa again for the wonderful gift, and hit me up if you feel like it, you would be my first New Zealand friend!!