Meandering Missive: I'm a 'virtual' Secret Santa!

Sunday, December 11, 2005

I'm a 'virtual' Secret Santa!

It's official -- I am now a "virtual" Secret Santa! I've been eagerly awaiting this for three weeks or so, and it's finally happened!

If you're a new reader to my blog (or simply an absent-minded one), please peruse my Nov. 21 entry, How to be a 'virtual' Secret Santa for a funny and fun commentary on how I came to sign up for an online gift exchange and why it excites me so much. You can also visit the Secret Santa website itself for more info; just click on the festive banner at the top of this entry.

In a nutshell, I love gift exchanges, especially those along the lines of Secret Pals or Secret Santas. I've never worked in an office that did the Pals thing, but I *have* done a few Santa exchanges in my day. Now that I'm a freelancer/independent contractor who works from home, I sadly have NO chance to do any of this. Fortunately, ever-cool (and oft-mentioned) Shari in Las Vegas blogged about the Secret Santa website one fine November day at Shari.com, I read about it, checked it out and immediately signed up!

It's the brainchild of U.K residents Cal Henderson, Denise Wilton and Tom Coates (credit where credit is due!). They began it several years ago, and it's been growing ever since. I myself tried to get the word out and encourage lots of folks to sign up; I don't know if I was successful or not. Being a Secret Santa is as simple as stuffing a stocking! :) The website guides you through an easy registration process, which includes a link to your publicly viewable gift wishlist on an eclectic shopping site such as Amazon.com . You can also provide a link to your personal web page or -- as most folks provide -- your blog! (It's nice for your Secret Santa benefactor to be able to learn a bit about you).

On Dec. 10, the Secret Santa elves emailed me (and the thousands of others who signed up) with the name and wish list link of a random person somewhere in the world -- mostly the U.S., U.K. and Canada. We're supposed to buy one or more gifts from the recipient's wishlist that equal approximately $15 (not counting shipping). At the same time I received the info for the person I'm playing Santa for, some other complete stranger received info for ME, and will be buying one or more things from my own wishlist. TOO FUN! ;D

I don't want to say too much about my gift recipient, since it's such a small world -- who knows but someone reading this might know the person?! But I will say this much: it's a man; he's married, has two young children and lives in the southern U.S. I read his blog and enjoyed it. He seems thoughtful and friendly. He is very active in his church and most of the folks on his 'Blogroll' all seem to have religion central to their blogs. However, he also sounds open-minded, not afraid to question his beliefs and is quite interested in (and respectful of) other religions. Too bad more of the world isn't like that! :)

He only has 12 items on his Amazon wishlist, all of them are books, and most are of the same genre, which doesn't make for a particularly fun shopping experience for me. But that's OK -- as long as he is happy, that's what matters! As for my Secret Santa, he or she will have NO such problems, as I have more than 45 items to pick from on my wishlist!

No, I haven't gone mad. *smirk* I have a large wishlist for three reasons. First: whenever I see something on Amazon I really like throughout the year, I add it to my wishlist so I can search for it later on eBay, where good deals and steals abound. If I don't have it on the wishlist, I'll forget it ever caught my eye. Second: several members of my family use the wishlist for holiday and birthday gift ideas, so it's handy for them to have one place to look. Third (and most recently): I liked the idea of providing my Secret Santa with a wide variety of gift ideas. Not only does that make it more fun, but in case some items are not immediately available to ship, the Secret Santa can browse for other items that ARE.

If you're shaking your heads with bemusement that someone could write such a rambling commentary on the whole Secret Santa thing, I encourage you to read Shari's blog entry on the topic! ;) You'll see that she and I have more in common than just our first name!

And now, I leave you with a final thought, snipped from the almost-end of the email I got this morning at 8:05:25 GMT from the Secret Santa elves. It sounds like some cheezy, frilly thing I might have written myself, but I assure you, I did not! (LOL)

LOVE AND RAINBOWS AND PUPPIES!

Don't forget, Santa will have worked the hat-o-matic
for you as well! And someone out there is going to
buy you a present! Then everyone will get a present!
Everyone will be happy!

Today I am feeling giddy and festive!

posted by ScaryShari @ 9:35 PM

1 Comments:

At 3:35 PM, Anonymous said…

thanks shari for the two books! i always enjoy participating in the secret santa because i come across new people to keep up with online! i hope your secret santa was good to you as mine was to me! merry xmas and happy new year!

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