So, I had gotten a notice that UPS would attempt to deliver a package on Friday evening (Dec. 16). It was not an expected package -- could it be a care package from my very first ever Reddit Secret Santa, I wondered? What a great ending to a really hard week!

But ... I wasn't sure it would happen, because a winter storm was descending on us here in Minnesota: Six to 10 inches of snow expected, with high winds/blowing snow making travel difficult and not advised.

After dinner, as the snow kept falling, I started a fire so my 8-year-old daughter and her friend could roast marshmallows.

I think we were on our fifth or sixth round of these slightly charred bon-bons when my condo buzzer rang.

The kids looked up, surprised.

"You guys!" I said. "I think it's my Secret Santa!"

The girls were confused but delighted as we all got up and scrambled out into the hallway.

"There's no one there!" said my daughter's friend when she reached the front entrance.

"Look for a package," I said as I hurried to catch up with the kids. "I think the UPS driver probably left it ..."

Indeed, the UPS driver was just like the real Santa -- we never saw this mysterious creature, only the gift left on the doorstep.

Of course, the real Santa was on the box: An image of that familiar Reddit mascot staring back at me.

Really, guys, let me stop here and say: It did not and does not matter -- and it will never matter -- what was actually inside the box. The true gift? The true gift is the idea of a stranger somewhere in the world reading over another stranger's wish list, taking the time to shop for another stranger, spending their money on something they think this person that they don't know might like and then sending off a present just in time for Christmas! Wow!

Talk about the definition of Christmas spirit.

This is it.

But what was in the box, right? lol

Well, I let the little girls have the joy of opening the mystery box as we settled back in front of the fireplace. They went crazy when they saw the wrapped gifts inside, all wrapped up in cartoon newsprint (my favorite wrapping -- seriously!) and topped with red, white and silver bows.

The girls shared the opening duties as I watched and smiled, delight filling my heart. Thank you, Reddit Santa, for reading my wish list and getting me what I love: A 2-pound bag of my favorite coffee (Starbucks Caffe Verona)! Wow! Seriously, one of my biggest joys in this world is my morning coffee ritual and so this is a gift that will be used and appreciated every day (while I wake up with coffee in my cup and Reddit on my laptop in the mornings before the kids are awake, ahhhh).

My Reddit Santa also noted that I love scrapbooking and want to find a way to do more of this creative "lost art." So thank you, Santa, for all the scrapbook supplies -- a potpourri of cardstock, frames, speciality papers and even an idea book! I especially adore the supplies from Creative Memories (a Minnesota company).

So thank you, to my Reddit Secret Santa, for helping me in this difficult year, to remember that my fellow human beings can be pretty awesome. What a great first experience with the Reddit Secret Santa Exchange!

(Oh, and the girls want to know if I can find them a Secret Santa exchange for kids -- they are amazed at the concept, what a great teachable moment for them in generosity.)

Anyway: Guess what the kids and I did the rest of the evening? We busted out the scissors, markers, photos and glue and had an arts-and-crafts storm in the midst of a snowstorm.

Merry Christmas.