I have done a few Santa exchanges, but this year I decided to do an international one. I figured why not explore the world, even if it meant a small gift to someone else.

Not only was I matched with someone in Ireland, my santa was also from Ireland (No, not same person, but that was the FIRST thing I looked at)!

The best part of this was that my santa gave something for my entire family. Something I can share with my kids and boy did they love it.

I received a couple of things just for me, and I love them. Watching my daughters light up when reading about the famous Granuaile. A pirate queen, and boy did my oldest daughter (4) like this book. She said she wants to be a pirate for ~christmas~ Halloween (ha ha got excited and forgot when we wear costumes) this year (something my son was a couple of years ago and still has a few pieces from that she's been told to leave alone until now). My son gave her the remaining pieces of his old costume to play with until then.

I got a pair of dress socks with pizzas on them. I especially like the part where they come from a relatively close small business (Portland is about 8 hours away). I also got a cool software developer joke mug. This is a meme I have always laughed at.

Unfortunately, my santa mentioned there was one more thing that my son and I could play together, but we never received it. My santa said they had the retailer send another copy, and I will re-post when I get that, but I didn't want my santa to wait on my gift post any longer. My local post office likes to leave boxes at a house with the same number, but 1 street over. I'm sure it's ended up there. Hopefully the next shipment will make it to us.

Thank you so much for the gifts and if I ever make it out to Ireland, I will definitely hit you up for some local recommendations on good places to visit.