Where to begin; this is my first year participating in secret Santa, and it’s been a blast! I loved going through the questionnaires and digging up info (read: cyber stalking) on my giftee. I was looking through the gallery yesterday at everyone’s wonderful gifts and wondered when mine would show. I went to the exchange and saw my Santa had shipped it, and it was expected for delivery tomorrow. I was so excited!!

I woke up today, browsed reddit for a little while, like normal, and then thought, I should check and see if my package might get here early, but before I check the tracking I’ll stick my head out the door real quick. And there it was!!!

Y’all, this year has been a doozie for me, as I know it has been for so many of you, but this Secret Santa gift exchange has really helped me get in the holiday spirit. It helped me take my mind off my own troubles and let me focus on spreading joy throughout the holidays, and the joy has come back ten fold!!

Anyways, on to the gifts, I know why you’re here after all :)

The wrapping paper is gorgeous, deep green with gold ornaments and holly, and there’s a card I have to open first. YALL!!! (I’m from the south, please forgive me) it’s a Wicked card and an illustration from my Santa!! Wicked was the first Broadway Musical I ever had the pleasure of seeing. It has brought me into the theater community and I have seen so many amazing productions since then. The music in Wicked is fantastic and the overall theme resonated with me so much in high school. I see so many similarities between me and Elphaba, I know she’s my home girl!! Moving on...

The first thing I see when I unwrap and open the box is a HUFFLEPUFF bag!!! I squeeled with excitement!! I don’t have much memorabilia from my house, because, let’s be honest, until recently hufflepuff has been the least recognized house. With Fantastic Beasts coming out, and Newt being a Puff, much more merch has been put out there for us!! And now I have my very own Puff tote!!! Gahhhhh, okay, I’ll tone it down a little.

I go to lift the bag out of the box, and there is some weight to it, more than the bag looks like it should have, so I peek into the bag and there are more gifts!!! Two things that I didn’t even know I needed until now!!! One is a brush cleaner, this will seriously make my hobbiest life soooooo much easier! So many times I’m bent over the sink trying to scrape paint from my brushes with my fingernails. I must, ashamedly, admit, I’m not the best brush mother either. I have definitely ruined several brushes trying to clean them. I wonder if I can use this to reshape them? They may be saved after all!!

The second item in the fabulous bag was a brush washer. Y’all i didn’t know they made such a thing!! I’ve been using an old mason jar I’ve had, and just letting the brushes air dry lying on a paper towel. I know I know, I’m a horrible brush mom. But this thing comes with holes to hold my drying and wet brushes!!!! I don’t have an excuse anymore to be a bad brush mom, I can take care of them like they deserve, and now I can maybe justify getting a couple higher end brushes!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you penguindnd!!! You are an amazing Santa, and you e made this girls Christmas ten times brighter!!