Thank you, thank you for the lovely gifts @Rhiannon8404 !
@everyone : Would you believe - my Santa this year is the same person as last year? (Long-time SDMB Santas: has this ever happened to you?)
i received all locally made: daytime tea (delicious) + nighttime tea (loved and needed!); a sunflower puzzle (fun and quite lovely); bottle of lemon olive oil a Sacramento holiday ornament; another awesome Edward Gorey card; a bag of handmade spiced nuts (my favourite!); and… a ziploc of hollyhock seeds from their own garden! Best gifts received this year.
I didn’t even notice that I gave you the same Santa as last year! That’s funny.
Okay, by my notes I have one gift not yet sent, and two gifts not yet received.
Next year I’ll make a note to tag everyone who has ever participated in a SDMB Secret Santa that I’ve organized (from 2023 on): JaneDoe42, rocking_chair, hocow, Baker, Rhiannon8404, purplehorseshoe, carnut, CairoCarol, Czarcasm, FairyChatMom, FMera, Kitten_Mitten, Rilchiam, WOOKINPANUBv.2, Lancia, Reeses_Monkey, Sticks_and_Scones, scudsucker, Filbert, and Reply.
This is still true, as far as I know: I have one gift not yet sent, and two gifts not yet received.
If you haven’t sent a gift to your Secret Santa yet, or if you have sent it and haven’t received any confirmation in this thread that it has been received, please let me know.
I am not sure if my recipient got all the parts yet. The tracking info shows they were delivered, so hopefully they did?
In total there should’ve been:
5 separate gift items shipped in 3 packages
1 postcard sent separately
To my recipient: I’m very sorry for the hassle! My bad on this — I was trying to save on international shipping this way to focus on the actual gifts, but it ended up being unnecessarily confusing. I’ll know better for next time.
Checking in, finally got my Xmas gift. South African postage is… less than amazing.. and I am not often at my sister’s house, to which it was delivered
I sent you one, but US customs bitched about it and sent it back…
I have a few things to repackage and resend. I made two mistakes, I sent food (tradional rooibos tea) and local chocolate, neither of which are allowed by the US customs.
I have a few things still to give, and will get more. But I am afraid this might be an extraordinarily late Xmas present.
I have got some things which should be innocuous for US Customs. I am still very much on the job, trying to locate more “import friendly” things, and I might pop into the US Embassy to get their opinion - which might be met with bemusement - but it is way past Xmas, so I feel guilty.
Especially as I collected my own from my sister recently, and was richly awarded.
