I was so excited when I saw that my Secret Santa had shipped my gift last week, and even more excited when I came home from work early today to find a package in the mail.

I excitedly opened the package and was greeted with four smaller wrapped gifts, two of which were already pre-unwrapped! A thoughtful gesture by my Secret Santa or some snooping by the U.S. Post Office?

I laid each gift out on the rug so I could get a picture, then I carefully opened the first gift - A book of The Best American Mystery Stories! I enjoy mysteries so I'm looking forward to reading this book.

The next gift I opened was another book - Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I actually read this book several years ago and enjoyed it very much so good choice, Secret Santa! I'll pass it along to a friend or family member who is looking for something good to read, but I might read it again myself first.

The next gift was a CD from Ryan D. White called "This is How We Lose Our Minds." I've never heard of this artist but I listened to a few of the songs before posting this and I liked what I heard and am looking forward to listening to the rest of it. Something I found interesting is that the songs were written, recorded and produced in my Secret Santa's home town but were mixed and mastered in my current home town of Austin, TX. Not sure if my Secret Santa did that on purpose or if it was a coincidence but it did not go unnoticed!

The final gift was another CD entitled "eTown's Hand Made Songs". The back of the CD says it is a collection of songs professionally recorded by local high-school songwriters and performers. I listened to a bit of each song and I would have never guessed that these were high-schoolers. Great sounding songs!

Thank you for these excellent gifts, Secret Santa! You've made this a fun Christmas Eve eve.