My Santa is a fellow Pacific Northwesterner and as such, really knows the way to my heart!

Let me set a scene for you: It's Thanksgiving. You are at a large family gathering. All the women have started skirting sideways along the wall, hoping that if they keep their asses away from open spaces they can also manage to keep their asses out of reach of Grandpappy Albert's drunken and wandering fingers. Uncle Jack has already alienated 95% of the guests by declaring his undying devotion to Donald Trump. The kids have started arguing over the XBox controllers and the dog had to be let outside to vomit up the bacon grease that someone left on the edge of the counter. Just when you think you can't handle it anymore, snooty Uncle Richard and Aunt Karen want to bust out the pictures of his recent trip to Kilamanjaro and nobody. Freaking. Cares.

I am Uncle Richard and Aunt Karen. I love to travel. Traveling new places and experiencing new things gets me so excited that I always really, really want to talk to other people about it. Yes, I am THAT person. I really don't want to be THAT PERSON and I'm not trying to brag. I prefer to talk to someone who understands how I feel and can share their really cool experiences and stories with me, but I get over excited and in a pinch I'll talk to just about anyone who will listen.

My Santa gets that about me. They gave me two scratch off maps. One of the US and one of the world. I can scratch off places I have been and I can hang it on my wall (in my own room so I'm not tempted to let THAT PERSON out in a public space, don't worry) and I can sit there and reminisce in private about my cool travels. (And maybe be just a little sad about how boring my life is currently.)

Santa also got me a Christmas tree ornament in the shape of Washington (West Coast REPRESENT) with hikers cut out of the middle. Hiking is my passion and I would spend all my time in the wilderness if I could. This has actually been hung on a communal Christmas tree and anyone who doesn't want to hear about how amazing the Washington wilderness is can just suck it.

Thanks, Santa, you know exactly how to make me happy!