Absolutely blown away by my Cross Stitch Secret Santa!

This gift had quite the journey, but it was absolutely worth the wait! My Santa sent it all the way from Canada to Hong Kong, where it was stuck for a while due to the recent political demonstrations, then I finally managed to redirect it from the Hong Kong warehouse to Shanghai where I was staying with my family for the summer.

I already had a sneak peek of the package when the HK warehouse photographed it for me (the flying piggy duct tape was adorable), so it was great to finally hold it in my hands at last, and of course - open it!

And out came a rainbow of colors! My Santa gifted me many beautiful, pastel-colored linen fabrics, after reading in my preferences that I was willing to try stitching on linen instead of aida. They also picked out LOTS of brightly colored specialty and hand dyed thread, some of which are near-impossible to find in Asia! Out of all the threads, I think my favourite is the silk floss, its so soft and the color is gorgeous!

They also included DMC needles and floss bobbins to sort out all my new threads, and put a Canadian touch on it with the adorable little ribbon pin and the Canadian heart sampler. The bookworm dragon pattern is super cute because well, I'm a bookworm and I love dragons :P

My Santa really took the time to read my preferences and pick out something unique and new for me. This is also the first time I had an international Santa personally choose, pack and ship my gift instead of ordering it online from a retailer directly to my address, so the personal touch and extra effort is much appreciated!

Thank you so much u/lexifer31! You are an incredibly thoughtful and generous Sanata! You really spoiled me with all this cross stitch goodness and I'm going to really enjoy learning how to use linen and experimenting with so many different colors of variegated threads. I'd been hoping for a cross stitch exchange for so long and you've made it my favorite exchange ever!