Background: My daughter has been recently discovering her love of making things. She used to see electronics as video games and switches rather than a creative outlet. That changed this year when we drew silhouettes on stoplight lens units, hung them and hooked them to a motion sensor for Halloween.

While this is our first year and we would have been content with almost anything, our secret santa went above and beyond.

Tonight, the gift came. My daughter couldn't wait to rip into the gift. After opening it, the conversation went something like this:

Daughter: What is a CanaKit?

Dad: I dunno.

Daughter: What is a RASPBERRY PI?

Me: Wow. Umm. It is a little computer that you can use to control or create whatever you want.

Daughter: Like a trap for my brothers?

Me: Yes it could but ...

Daughter: Mom might not like it?

Me: Yes.

Daughter: Can I open it?

(After some scissors on plastic and dad's keys on a sticker closure)

Daughter: Let's look at the parts. (She reads them as she takes them out) A raspberry pi ... a pretty black berry box (enclosure) ... a WiFi (Holy Cow!) ... a pokey board (breadboard) and pokers (wires) ... lights (LEDS & resistors) ... a GPIO (breakout board) ... a DS card (micro SD card like a Nintendo 3DS) ... some cards (GPIO & resistor color reference cards) ... 2.5 power supply ... wire (HDMI cable) ... and ... a square (heat sink). That is a lot of stuff.

Me: (Floored) Ummm ... Ummm ... Our Secret Santa just gave us everything for the Pi. I also think she has quite a bit of faith in us, if she thinks we are going to work this puppy hard enough to need a heat sink.

Daughter: (Grinning) Can we build something tonight?

Me: Not tonight, but soon. Maybe tomorrow. We have some thanking to do tonight.

Thank you Secret Santa from the bottom of our hearts! We are so excited to get some good Daddy-Daughter time and keep up her interest in building creative things. We love it!

Edit: Fixed Pronouns for Secret Santa