You know you have an amazing Secret Santa when you give like, 5 different wish lists for easier gifting options, and they bypass all of it to pick out an incredibly thoughtful gift that shows what a perfect match they were.

When I travel, one of the things I love to get as souvenirs are handmade soaps, especially from local brands. And I have a crate of soap filled with my scented obsession. My Santa sent me goat milk soaps from Fresh Skin Therapy, a brand based in upstate NY. Apparently the owner has her own goats! I've never heard of this brand before and I'm super excited to try these out. I got the scents Lavender Bud, Matcha Lime (mmmm!) and a nice little soap dish so they last longer. Looking forward to my next New Soap Day so I can crack one of these open.

I also mentioned that I really love to read, love images of old abandoned buildings, medical history, and traveling to weird and creepy places. She bought me "The Lives They Left Behind," which is a book about the Willard Psychiatric Center, which when shut down, had hundreds of suitcases of belongings from former patients (some of which the book uses to help paint a picture of psychiatric care at the time). My Santa mentions that she has a relative who used to work there when the building converted to a prison and said it was VERY creepy. I actually went to a couple of lectures about psychiatric hospitals recently, and learned about the museum exhibit by the same name, so I was really excited to get a book about this topic too.

The more I think about it, the more amazed I am at just how many of my interests my Santa managed to fit into one book. I'm really looking forward to reading this and adding it to my collection.

Thank you so much for the incredible gift. You're a perfect example of why I'm so glad to have discovered reddit gifts.