OK - I searched very carefully, and I didn’t find a SS thread for this year, so I started one up!
I hereby volunteer my services as the Official Toy Elf Matchmaker. As the OTEM, it will be my job to toss everyone in a hat, and e-mail the results to people.
In an ideal world, everyone who signs up sends a gift, and gets a gift. In reality, there are always a few people who don’t send out, so here’s what I want from everyone:
Send an e-mail to Gravity@sover.net containing
[ul][li] Your username[/li][li] your address, including country[/li][li] if you would like to be a Backup Toy Elf and help out some poor soul who didn’t get anything from his Designated Toyee[/li][li] if you would prefer NOT to be matched with someone outside of your own country[/ul][/li]
Backup Toy Elves are kind folks who are willing to send out a second present to someone who gets grinched by their assigned Secret Santa. This is in no way mandatory!
Unless you indicate otherwise you will be tossed into the random draw and may get someone from outside your own country.
Secret Santas usually reveal themselves on the gifts that they send, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.
The usual limit on gifts is $10-$20.
No one under 18. Really sorry about that.
November 22 is the deadline if you want to play, and I will get everyone their match by November 26th at the latest.
After you’ve sent your e-mail, take the time to post here and give a few ideas about what you like to make shopping easier for your Santa.
Hey hey hey,
Sounds like fun to me.
Count me in as well.
I love Santa figurines, and anything with Santa on it.
Gravity, I sent you an email from an account I don’t use that much, if you have any questions, can you use the email address that is listed in my SDMB profile?
I’m not picky about gifts… anything that represents the giver, or where the giver is from would be great.
Since I’m not all that well known as a poster, I will say a little about myself just to make things easier (a user name search probably wouldn’t be helpful )
I’ll be 29 years old by christmas (my birthday is December 22). I’m single, I come from a fairly large family, and I live alone in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania. I have a degree in biochemistry, and I do product support for a small research pharmaceutical company. I like the outdoors (although not sports), history, reading (anything), music (any kind), and art (any kind). I love dogs, although my current lease doesn’t allow me to have one, so I make do with the family dog at my parents a few miles away.
I also have a bunch of allergies, so I will ask that my secret santa not send me any food. Not that I wouldn’t appreciate it, but I may not be able to eat it
Email sent. To drop a hint on my behalf I love anything with cows on it. I also like FairyChatMom’s idea of something relative to where my Secret Santa lives.
Green Bean has run our Secret Santa for the past few years and had so requested this year, before this came about. I just gave her permission.
And so . . . since she asked first . . . I am going to close this one and defer to her.
No harm, no foul, though I will note, if you wish to add something to the board of any nature out of the ordinary, you should write and ask first. It’s always better to ask permission than forgiveness.
In this case, Gravity did ask for permission, but gave me a very short window of opportunity to respond; having not heard back from me in what she considered to be a timely fashion she assumed that meant yes. Never assume that, whether it takes us an hour, a day, or a week. The thing to do in that case, if you are unsure, is to write again and ask what’s up.
I try hard to respond to email the same day I receive it, but in this case I missed that by . . . an hour.
