It took two and a bit months to get here, but boy was it worth the wait!!

My Santa got in touch early in the exchange and we messaged back and forth a bit, she very quickly became my favourite Santa. On the day she shipped, she messaged me to let me know, and said that it cost $85 (soexpensiveomg)! And though she spoiled me, it could take a while to arrive - alright, no worries, I can be patient...

Turns out, not so much! I refreshed the tracking every day, twice a day, excitement mounting, and both of us getting quite impatient. Come Arbitrary Day, and by some crazy matching coincidence, she's my AD Santa now too! Woohoo!! I was unbelievably excited (she was an awesome Arbitrary Santa too), but the tracking on the MLP gift had stopped updating and I started to get worried that it had been misplaced somewhere and my wonderful Santa had lost all her effort and all that money...

BUT! One fine morning I refreshed the tracking info, like I do every day, and instead of seeing the same old information that was last updated on May 20th, I see THIS. Mind, I'm half asleep and lying in bed when this happens, so I managed to convince myself that I'd dreamed it (I was so excited that it even carried over into my sleep, because I legit had dreams of this tracking info updating LOL). I got up, fed my pets their breakfast, made myself a coffee and, finally feeling (mostly) awake, checked the tracking info again. And I blinked. And then I squealed. I quickly screenshot and sent a message to my Santa, and I like to imagine we both did a little happy dance.

This morning I woke up (way earlier than usual) and saw that it said it was with the courier!! Cue another (quiet, so I didn't wake up Boyfriend) happy dance! When the courier pulled up, I rushed outside to retrieve the inconspicuous looking box, which I placed on my sewing table and forced myself to take a few breaths. I cut open the top and found pretty, brightly coloured tissue paper, which I removed carefully and then gazed into this big box of marvelous wonders, trying to decide where to start.

I finally spotted the envelope, so I gently pulled that out of the box and followed the instructions to read the card - which was fantastic! <3 The note was super sweet and it was great to know more about you, and I love that for the MLP exchange I got someone amazing who has actually worked on the MLP cartoons! I then pulled out the rest of the envelope's contents. Inside were some MLP cards featuring episode synopsis notes, some stickers and temporary tattoos, some valentines cards (suuuuper adorable!), a pad of Princess Celestia sticky notes (yesss! These are going to end up ALL OVER my house) and the cutest little Fluttershy 'Yay!' pin and dogtag necklace :D Next out of the box came some beautifully wrapped gifts for my little sister - I had mentioned that MLP was one of the things we shared a love for, and I am speechless at the fact that Santa went to so much effort. These are sitting in a safe place and will be passed on the next time I see her - I will definitely be taking photos, and I'll update the post then!

I umm'd and aah'd for a moment, but then I pulled out the most obvious - the little Fluttershy figurine. I considered adding it to the pile for Little Sis, but I may just end up keeping this one for myself! I never had a pony with hair when I was a kid, and I just love this :D I also discovered some vintage MLP stickers, which are super awesome, but the coolest thing to come out of the box was absolutely, unquestionably, the Fluttershy drawing done by my Santa herself! I love this, and I will be picking up a pretty frame and finding somewhere to hang it ASAP!!

Then it was time to dig in to what remained of the pretty tissue paper! Underneath I discovered a HUGE and AMAZING MLP tin lunchbox, but I thought it felt a little heavy so I decided to take a peek inside... More tissue paper! What could be in here? More stickers! I'm going to have to figure out what to stick all these stickers to/on lol I don't think I've ever had so many stickers in my entire life!! Besides stickers, the lunchbox also held a Fluttershy 'micro-comic' pack, an amazing(!!!) Princess Celestia necklace that I will probably wear forever, some adorable little rings (which will be shared with Little Sis!), a glittery Rainbow Dash figure (soooo awesome, because I didn't have this one yet and RBD is almost best pony!) and a little RBD tin (of candies? I actually haven't opened it yet!).

There was one other thing wrapped in tissue that was soft. Curious! It turned out to be an awesome Doctor Who tee! I actually didn't even manage to get a clear photo of this, because I put it on right away LOL /enthusiasm.

Finally, feeling a little bit like I might have an excitement hangover pretty soon, all that was left to discover were the perfectly wrapped gifts that I had left until last. I reluctantly tore into the cutest wrapping paper in the world and first found a MLP mystery mini figure, which I had to open right away, of course! I pulled out a black Discord figure and squeed! I love it so much, and Discord looks fantastic in black! :D

The next gift I unwrapped was... dun, dun duuuun... A Doctor Whooves Pop! figure, which is SUPER CUTE OMGERD, and a perfect melding of two of my favourite fandoms!

Last but certainly not at all least was the final wrapped gift. I lifted it and puzzled over it for a moment, wondering what could be so heavy... It was a Fluttershy figure! It is enormous and heavy and ohmygoshIloveitsomuch!!!

ALL of the figures have already found a home on one of our (quickly getting crowded) nerd shelves in the middle of the living room, proudly displayed :D

artworkbysteen, you are the most incredible Santa, and you certainly spoiled the bejeezus out of me! I don't even have words to convey just how much I love and appreciate all the thought that went into this and just, absolutely everything.

<3

Edit to update: My little sister finally came over and opened her pressies and she was super thrilled! She has just gotten into really reading, so the book was perfect :D And she loves that we have matching little Fluttershy ponies and was SO excited about all the stickers and tattoos!! I did try to get her to show her excitement for the camera, but instead she just did this awkward smile thing (that she always does when she knows she's being photographed LOL). Thank you so much Steen! <333