I really had no idea WHAT to expect. A million things run through your mind when you sign up for a huge secret santa with almost 200,000 strangers. I've read almost all the stories of past secret santa exchanges, the good, the bad and the ugly... So, I just did my best with picking out gifts for my match and then held my breath lol

My Santa sent me a message within a day or 2, wishing me a merry Christmas and to say that they hoped I liked my gift. I got tracking info and got all giddy, stalking the tracking number the whole way.

Sooo.... this after noon a little box arrives with the daily mail and I KNOW its for me! I really wanted to wait until Christmas to open it but that wasn't happening!

The first thing I noticed was that the return address appeared to be from a company called "Small things for sale" so my first thought was, "small things!" What KIND of small things??? Ohhhhh is it going to be 1000 small buttons or 10000000 small pieces of confetti?? Am I being trolled??? No way, my santa sounded way too nice! lol As a friend pointed out, being trolled in Reddit's secret santa isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's sort of a right of passage. Kind of like having someone on SNL impersonate you for a skit, like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin. I wouldn't have been mad if I would've gotten 100 paperclips, it's just one of those things that happen with secret santas on Reddit (or anywhere) so you kind of just have to roll with it and laugh. Of course there was NO way I could stand to wait. I HAD to dig in!

As it turns out, I was not being trolled lol My santa sent me THE MOST ADORABLE gift I love, love, LOVE hand made soaps!!! But, these aren't just ANY soaps, they're 8 bit hearts and also Mario coins

What makes them extra special is that I'm a mom of a little girl who is OBSESSED with video games. I'm not wealthy enough to afford fancy games systems and games, so she plays the old games that I grew up on, like the original Nintendo and Mario Brothers that I had when I was a kid and she loves them and she also likes to watch gaming videos on Youtube.

One of the things she always says to me like if she wants a snack or we're eating dinner is "you know, mom... if you give me some of THIS or extra of THAT, my level of love for you will go up to 100000" or if I surprise her by making brownies or something, she'll say "those were awesome- you just earned 100 coins". She's such a nerd, but it's funny when she says it and when I opened up my box and saw the cool soaps, that's what it reminded me of and it made me smile big <3

I can not WAIT until it's shower time tonight, not only because I'm excited to use my new soap (although, it's almost too cool to use!), but after I wash my daughter's hair (that's looong and down to her butt and usually a struggle to wash because she doesn't keep her head up and shampoo runs in her eyes) I'm gonna say something like "good job washing your hair, you just leveled up and got a coin". I love that I can share this with her!

So, amazing job, santa! The gift you've given me wasn't just something that I liked that was made in a really cool and different type of way. It has tons of sentimental value because it reminds me of one of the people I love the most. It's crazy how a complete stranger would pick out something that not only you like, but would also have some other kind of meaning.. without possibly knowing about the kid who speaks in video game references all the time lol Thank you so much, santa! I love it!