Halforums Secret Santa 2023

I got on the phone with a non-overseas call center level 2 guy..he found the order, so you don't have to spoil the surprise. We're working through it.
 
After verifying my address, they're sending out replacements, supposed to be arriving thursday.

So, by way of explanation, something WEIRD happened with my wishlist address, and it had no street address or other information associated with it.
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So that weird address was selected as my "Default" wishlist address. I don't know how anything shipped to it. Every other address on the list (all redacted, because I ship to a few people), including my correct one, had all the proper info. I clicked on my actual address and hit save and the weird one disappeared, so luckily I screen shotted it.
The agent couldn't see any street address or anything either, so they just queued up a replacement shipment. Unfortunately, they tagged it to my account, and the surprise has been spoiled :'(
But I'll still post all the happy pictures when the stuff arrives.
 
Since I'm on nights Santa left my gift during the day.

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I wonder if I got cardboard, too!
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Damn. No cardboard but lots of big bubble wrap!

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Sweet! It's a book about the art & making of The Expanse TV show! Love that scientifically accurate show! This is going to be a fun one to read! Sorry I made it so hard on you, Santa. I know I'm difficult to buy for.
I had to do a lot of forums archive digging, lol. Glad you like it!
 
Gasp!

Packages! For me! From Amazon!

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There was a "mountains of Colorado" calendar, a guide book to Colorado, and some colorful Colorado socks!

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There was also a nice tumbler!

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And there were toothpicks! Nicely wrapped in a pretty canvas bag!

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So many toothpicks! Like, literally around 3,000 toothpicks!

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Thank you so much, @Dei! I thought I'd end up getting toothpicks, and I'm chortling at being right!

(Although my wife is very slightly annoyed that we got 3,000 toothpicks because actually neither of us use toothpicks. She was all like, "Why couldn't you have said that you wanted post-it notes? At least I can use post-it notes!" I told her it's the thought, the hilarious thought, that counts.)
 
for the last several months, the post office has been delivering after 5:00pm. Today, my doorbell camera chimed at 9am letting me know someone was on my porch. Replacement Secret Santa gifts have arrived!
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Irish crochet! I put stuff on my wish list because, you know, I want it...most of my family never shops there because they say it's boring. And then they complain that I'm hard to shop for. My Halforum buddies know how to get me what I really want ;)

Modern sensibilities in publishing have big fonts, lots of large pictures. Judicious use of white space. This makes books easy to read, light and breezy, and more importantly (to publishers lol), bumps up the page count.

This book was first published in 1909. It has a different vibe.
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This book is dense. Small fonts. Multiple projects per page. Very low page count compared to how it'd be put together today. I love it! I don't want to have to flip through 7 or 8 pages just to get through one technique.

But that's not all!
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Now, you may be thinking "how hard is it to cook shepherd's pie and boiled cabbage with sausages?" It's tempting to think of Irish pub food in terms of the kind of stereotypical Irish fare you might get at St. Paddy's in a bar here in the states. But if you've ever been to Ireland, you'll know that even the smallest towns serve amazing dishes in their pubs. And this book captures that. So looking forward to diving in and giving them a whirl!
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Oh look! When they queued up replacements, they even got the gift options right!
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Thanks @Celt Z!

(and if I'm reading my Amazon orders page correctly, I do believe one more box is coming....)
 
(Although my wife is very slightly annoyed that we got 3,000 toothpicks because actually neither of us use toothpicks. She was all like, "Why couldn't you have said that you wanted post-it notes? At least I can use post-it notes!" I told her it's the thought, the hilarious thought, that counts.)
Sounds like someone needs to take up a new hobby...
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or....take up drinking martinis...lots of martinis
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for the last several months, the post office has been delivering after 5:00pm. Today, my doorbell camera chimed at 9am letting me know someone was on my porch. Replacement Secret Santa gifts have arrived!
View attachment 46763
Irish crochet! I put stuff on my wish list because, you know, I want it...most of my family never shops there because they say it's boring. And then they complain that I'm hard to shop for. My Halforum buddies know how to get me what I really want ;)

Modern sensibilities in publishing have big fonts, lots of large pictures. Judicious use of white space. This makes books easy to read, light and breezy, and more importantly (to publishers lol), bumps up the page count.

This book was first published in 1909. It has a different vibe.
View attachment 46764
This book is dense. Small fonts. Multiple projects per page. Very low page count compared to how it'd be put together today. I love it! I don't want to have to flip through 7 or 8 pages just to get through one technique.

But that's not all!
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Now, you may be thinking "how hard is it to cook shepherd's pie and boiled cabbage with sausages?" It's tempting to think of Irish pub food in terms of the kind of stereotypical Irish fare you might get at St. Paddy's in a bar here in the states. But if you've ever been to Ireland, you'll know that even the smallest towns serve amazing dishes in their pubs. And this book captures that. So looking forward to diving in and giving them a whirl!
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Oh look! When they queued up replacements, they even got the gift options right!
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Thanks @Celt Z!

(and if I'm reading my Amazon orders page correctly, I do believe one more box is coming....)
You know, I was getting worried there! But I'm glad they not only replaced everything, but remembered to print the note as well. And yes, one more to come!
 
A suspicious box has arrived! It may be a mimic...
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It contains multitudes.
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Multitudes of BOOKS!

Books books books books books. I do love me some books!

Specifically, I've been wanting to try out this trilogy! So I'm super pumped for this. AND! I can't find my old copy of 'Year of Living Biblically' (must have loaned it out), so I'm grateful for a replacement. I need to re-read it.

And my santa is still secret! So thank you most secretive of Santas! I'm really looking forward to curling up on the couch with all of these!
 
A suspicious box has arrived! It may be a mimic...
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It contains multitudes.
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Multitudes of BOOKS!

Books books books books books. I do love me some books!

Specifically, I've been wanting to try out this trilogy! So I'm super pumped for this. AND! I can't find my old copy of 'Year of Living Biblically' (must have loaned it out), so I'm grateful for a replacement. I need to re-read it.

And my santa is still secret! So thank you most secretive of Santas! I'm really looking forward to curling up on the couch with all of these!
That was me! I don't think Chapters gave me an option to leave a note with the order, so sorry for the mystery.

Can't wait to hear what you think of the Liveship Traders trilogy. It's my all-time favorite fantasy series and I jumped on it when I saw it on your list.

I wasn't sure if you'd read The Year of Living Biblically but I'm glad to provide a new copy of it. It's one of my all-time favorite books. :D
 
So I haven't gotten anything yet, and USPS has definitely managed to lose a package after it went out for delivery 5 days ago, and I'm unsure if that's the package I was expecting.
 
Last box showed up today. This is a coloring book that only uses water. We had these when I was a kid, but the page was filled with watercolor dots, so it was obvious what color was gonna show up. But this one, they hide the watercolors in/along the black dots and borders, so you don't know what you're gonna get until you run your wet brush across it. I thought it was neat and nostalgic when I put it on my wishlist. The positive affirmations are an added bonus.

Thanks again, @Celt Z!

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GasBandit

Staff member
So I haven't gotten anything yet, and USPS has definitely managed to lose a package after it went out for delivery 5 days ago, and I'm unsure if that's the package I was expecting.
Current estimate is to arrive Monday.
 
After a hefty queue at the post office, a parcel has been capture!

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Appears to be from the country of Taiwan. Hmmm, who could it be from?

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Ooh! Snacks!

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Whar are these, mints?

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No not mints, wax! And a kit!

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Neat! I like these things and have some Scout seals .

Oooh! Stickers

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Some one is excited about the box!

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Thank you @bhamv3 !!!
 
After a hefty queue at the post office, a parcel has been capture!

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Appears to be from the country of Taiwan. Hmmm, who could it be from?

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Ooh! Snacks!

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Whar are these, mints?

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No not mints, wax! And a kit!

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Neat! I like these things and have some Scout seals .

Oooh! Stickers

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Some one is excited about the box!

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Thank you @bhamv3 !!!
Glad it arrived! :D

I mentioned this to Tin last year, but in case you don't know, the snack with the green packaging and the buck-toothed guy on it is also meant to serve as a good luck charm. The name of the snack is a pun in Chinese, and can also mean "well behaved". Thus, you can put it on something that you want to behave well, such as malfunctioning electronics. If you've got a printer on the fritz, put that packet of snacks on it for a while and see if that fixes it. There's also a space on the front, where you can write down stuff that you want to behave well, such as "the cat".
 
It’s been a hectic few days, so I couldn’t post this earlier.
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At first it looks like a simple stuffed frog, but it’s much more! The sender donated to the local zoo in my name.

Thank you to my unnamed Secret Santa, who just happened to donate to the Omaha Zoo. Gee, who on here is from Nebraska?
 

Dave

Staff member
You know, I really stressed as to whether or not this was a good gift or lame. I had several people tell me it was great but I still doubted.

What you are leaving out, though, is that there is an endangered species of toad that the zoo is trying to bring back. One of them now is named “Tress” and will be released back into the wild.
 
What you are leaving out, though, is that there is an endangered species of toad that the zoo is trying to bring back. One of them now is named “Tress” and will be released back into the wild.
What?! I didn’t know that! That’s even better!
 
A box! It took some tries on Fedex' end, but they finally managed to figure out they need to actually ring my house number at the gate in order to get onto my parking lot.



Merry christmas, Secret Santa @Tress!



"But Wahad", you might say, "how do you know it's Tress? There's no name on the card!" Well, my inquisitive friend, first let's see what Santa delivered!



A hat, some cool glasses, and a book! Now, I happen to know that the package came from a certain place in California, and back in ye olde 2019, Tress sent me a shirt and some delicious honey from that same place in California! So, you see, 'twas an elementary deduction. Thanks again for this year's package!
 
Glad it arrived! :D

I mentioned this to Tin last year, but in case you don't know, the snack with the green packaging and the buck-toothed guy on it is also meant to serve as a good luck charm. The name of the snack is a pun in Chinese, and can also mean "well behaved". Thus, you can put it on something that you want to behave well, such as malfunctioning electronics. If you've got a printer on the fritz, put that packet of snacks on it for a while and see if that fixes it. There's also a space on the front, where you can write down stuff that you want to behave well, such as "the cat".
Let's see if it works!

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Oh my god! Taiwan magic is crazy!!!!!

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