Ho ho ho (that's interesting)! Secret Santa 2022 for the sixteenth straight year

Doh! ;-)

Still, thanks for the heads-up that I need to get my ass in gear and start preparing my gift!

I’m afraid mine probably will be late arriving from Canada after I send out this weekend. Please don’t hate me.

:O

I’d better get a move on.

A package has arrived! From Amazon and not ordered by me so I assume it’s from Santa. Now to hide it from myself until opening week…

Sent.

I hope you like this Santee.

Also, to my Secret Santa, your parcel arrived on the same day as a massive bunch of stuff from Amazon, and the dog chewed the corner of your parcel!

I opened the box, very quickly realized whatever is inside was not ordered by me, and then shut it and placed it under the tree.

I had the merest glimpse, I think I saw a book, and so I shall remain surprised on Christmas day :).

Unless I’m missing some elaborate joke, why are people ignoring this?

Fascinating, aint it?

Without wanting to heap extra work on Fire: I found that messaging her to tell your Santee that a package is in the mail works quite well!

Crap.

Mea culpa.

I…think I read that when the thread got started, and then somehow forgot.

Sent…

…everyone a big hug!

No no no ho ho ho.

Don’t say you’ve sent anything!!!

I’m a rebel, Dottie…

And I appear to have messed up my Secret Santa timing. :( An Amazon box arrived today, but the contents weren’t wrapped and there was no indication on the outside it was anything other than a routine Amazon delivery. But I could tell it was my Secret Santa by the note on the inside: “A Gift For You, Santa”!

So thanks to my Secret Santa for keeping my toes warm with my new slippers:

And for sending me a book written by Mo Rocca, who I actually went to school with!

I also know him from being a panelist on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. But mainly from school. We both were heavily involved in theater, and we were probably even in the same plays, but I’m afraid I don’t recall any particulars. Anyway, apologies for messing up the timing, but thanks for the gifts, Santa, and I hope your holidays are happy as well!

Well, if we’re screwing up Secret Santa stuff, I might as well go ahead and out myself as the chooser of those gifts. I’d intended to send you a note via our fiery organizer so you knew packages were coming, but that part must have gotten lost in the shuffle of life. You should actually have one more book coming, per Amazon the package was left in your mailbox on Thursday…hopefully it didn’t get misdirected!

I haven’t read the whole thing, but I’ve heard parts of the audio book, and loved it. Hope you do as well! And if that is indeed the case, then I highly recommend you also listen to the Mobituaries podcast. Not only is it great Mo content, a lot of it references TV shows and movies that I bet you remember fondly.

Ah, mystery solved, then. Yes, a book arrived in the mail last week, but it was in a plain envelope with no additional info:

It was an odd book to arrive unbidden! I actually wondered if it was a galley copy, or maybe a complementary copy sent by the author. So it seems to be a 300-page collection of emailed Q&A’s the writer sent to various boardgame designers. Tons of names in here, including some I don’t recognize. Thanks, @ineffablebob!

I probably won’t pull the trigger until the 15th but that’s PLENTY of time for it to arrive I’m sure.

Yeah, it’s a pretty niche thing. Unpolished, clearly - like you said it’s basically a bunch of email interviews with board game designers. But I figure if there’s anyone who is likely to get value out of their answers, it’s you! Chances are there’s a few names in there that go with games you’ve spent some time with.

I recently received an Amazon package with an unwrapped item inside, no note (my wife peeked). If this was a QT3 Secret Santa gift, please let @fire know, so that I can be sure to feature it during Opening Week!

Separately, I received today a clearly labeled QT3 Secret Santa package. So maybe that other one is from an anonymous benefactor.

This is not on my wish list.

You dirty, dirty banana.