WTF?
In my reality, if it was officially taken there WOULD have been paperwork, saying what was taken, who took it, why, in triplicate with the supervisor's stamp. I can only presume theft, therefore.
Dunno about the USA, though ... any :tinfoil: ideas?

That would probably be the case here also.

i hope jaydaan gets her present soon!!! fingers crossed for you!

Still, its frustrating that the good side of the gift is missing... the rest was just fluff. :(
At least you got it in time for Christmas!

One would think they would be knocking on my door, if it was customs. Hubby thinks the bag tore, and the heavy part fell out. The package is from my Esthetic business, and handmade. It does have my phone number including area code on it ( for re-ordering purposes) If anyone calls, they have instructions to have it mailed to Junpier instead of being returned to sender.
You might get it yet, Juni!

Oh and the Santas are floating candles, not soaps.

Usually if a package is damaged by the USPS they stick a note of apology to the package. I've been shipping bricks of hash, er, fudge for years with no problems ... Which since they are wrapped in tinfoil should be attracting some kind of attention, and they don't.

Sundae ... regardless of size we call them "measuring cups." I have one that's 4 quarts, and it's still a "cup" even though it's larger than any of my cooking pots.

Oh, Jay, what a shame. How frustrating!

I didn't expect to be posting here this year, as I wasn't taking part...

Got home today from walking the Pilster, and there was a package on my door step; upside down with a slight tear in it. I just assumed it must be one of the several packages I am still waiting on from various online sellers...so I just widened the tear to see what was inside...

Uh oh! The first item that was visible was not something I had ordered! Crap, thinks I, this is a neighbour's package mistakenly left on my step and I have just savaged the outer packaging...

Turned it right side up to check the address label and, no, it was addressed to me. Sent from America...Took me a moment to figure out that Santa had made a little trip to Northowram :)

I opened up the rest and looked inside :) I have photos but haven;t had time to resize them etc, will do so a little later and will post here:)

Thankyou so much to my super-secret Santa! I think I know who that might be, because of the sticker on the back of the envelope that was inside. But you'll have to wait for the photos to see that and to see the gifts.

I am completely delighted and over the moon. Especially as Santa very thoughtfully included Pilau in the fun! What a thoroughly delightful surprise!

Photos to follow

Hurrah!!!!

Sorry Juni and Jaydaan -double sorry to Jaydaan.... :(

Have had a PM from my SS.
They really made an effort, and I think they are wonderful.

Thanks to them & their Mum!

K...I thought I'd guessed my secret santa's identity, from the sticker on the back of the envelope; but then when i looked at the address of the sender, I realised I didn't know after all! I am rubbish at remembering Dwellar's rl names, they stay as their Dwellar name for me. This is not helped by the fact I have verrrrry little knowledge of American geography... so, that said, maybe I did guess correctly ... I dunno.

Anyway, here are pics as promised :)

First a pic of how the ripped envelope looked with the single item I'd pulled out and which made me think I'd opened my neighbours mail. Then a pic of it turned over, when I realised it was in fact for me!

And now for the goodies!
 

here's what I found inside the parcel; including a lovely card (note the sticker on the back!)

Who'd have thought Santa had such lovely flowing handwriting? Having seen what he sent to Sundae (he shared some postage with me) I'd have said he wrote like a hyperactive child!

I haven't given Pilau the (wonderful, and very tough!) chew toy yet. Unlike me, he can wait until Christmas Day...or at least until Christmas Eve. He's going to love playing (destroying) with that!

Am veddy excited about the American choccies! And the Burt's Bees body kit really struck a chord. This secret Santa has chosen ridiculously well. Also rather thrilled with the Christmas socks, and the gorgeous scarf! (funnily enough, I was looking at some scarves whilst out shopping, but there were so many at the stall i couldn't make a decision and ended up walking away; something I regretted about ten minutes after boarding the train to come home lol)

A little more detail on the chocs and body kit: The chocs are a confectionary tour of America! How marvellous is that? And te body kit comes in a little zip case and is jam packed with goodies; all of which look wonderfully tempting. Thankyou Santa! Brilliantly chosen selection. Completely made my day in every way. So unexpected and so cool!

Fabberoonie!

What a lovely surprise!

Not wanting to be a Grinch, but are you sure you want the photo with your address readable visible on the net?

good point

Today I got a totally unexpected package in the mail. It was from the Cellar Secret Santa in Houston! Hmmm... Now who could that be? I have my suspicions. Inside the package was a darling little Scottie dog clock / scotch tape dispensor. Its the cutest thing. I wish I had a camera, so I could include a pic. I am truely surprised because I wasn't going to do the secret Santa thing this year.

Thank you very much cellar Santa in Houston for a cute and clever gift! Merry Christmas!

If we could only see the return address a little clearer . . . ;)

I am not too concerned really.
Unless someone was specifically looking for me under this name it's not a problem; as for attracting potential unwanted attention: my name and address is a matter of public record anyway. My only concern would be someone connecting my rl persona with my Cellar id;P And the likelihood of anyone over here coming seeking me in the Cellar is not high :)

But someone seeing your picture, you know which one, might be interested in your address. ;)

Looks like I'm way behind here, because I don't open my gifts until Xmas! My parents trained me too well.

I got delicious minty brownies...which I got a hint about ahead of time, and are now long gone. And...sparkly sweet pea body lotion, one of the few scents I love (how did SS know?). Plus...comfy soft pink gloves and matching scarf.

If my camera was working, maybe I'd take a pic wearing only my gifts. :lol:

(well alright, maybe not)

Oh, and because I was also way behind with my Secret Santa-ing, someone here is going to get an after-the-holidays gift.

Ummm...yeah....maybe you could remove that one pic? :P The one with the address showing....not the other one.

So you're like the Sarah Palin of the UK?:D

Kidding.Kidding.Kidding.Kidding.Kidding.Kidding.

Yes. I'm exactly like Sarah Palin:P

She can almost see Scotland from her doorstep

haggis!

Secret Santa Strikes Twice!
 

Yesterday evening when I got home (the postman must be keeping strange hours), I discovered a package in my mailbox. What was this? Why it was a parcel from Secret Santa in Phila, PA. Could this be Wolf? I wish I had a camera so I could show you all my loot! I got a Ferrara candy bar, a pretty green and pink covered blank journal, a cute emory board, and two cat shaped objects which are for cuticle care, I think?

Thank you so much Secret Santa in Philly(/Wolf?)! :)

Not me ... I sent a load of momwolf's recipe fudge to classicman.

Well, whoever you are in Philly, my thanks and a happy New Year!

Clodfobble, I know it seems like I'm not fulfilling my promise. :p How about I post up a youtube of me playing something else, and I'll get to one of the songs from the songbook before the next Christmas? :D Unfortunately, I didn't show enough of my uke in this video.

So . . . has everyone guessed who their Santas are? Huh? LOL

I don't think my recipient cares who sent it :sniff:

I haven't guessed right yet. I'd love to know who my Secret Santa was so I could thank him/her.

I'm too blonde and dumb to guess mine :blush: Thank you SS! :)

I haven't guessed. I tried. I saw the sticker on the back of the envelope and thought maybe it was monster...but then the name on the sender details said 'Pam' . I don't know who pam is but I am pretty sure it ain't monster!

So, now I am confused :P I wuold certainly like to know. But if my SS wants to remain secret I'll respect that :P


Talking of Secret Santas, here's a little update:

The chocs were bloody lovely! I ate the last one yesterday. Mum helped me with a few :P They were some of the nicest chocs I've had in years. Told my family about the gifts and my eldest niece was seriously impresed with the Burt's Bees stuff. I have never heard of them before (I was just blown away that someone sent me something Bee-related :P Got a lump in my throat on that one: in a good way) But apparently they're well-known. She has a Burt's Bees lip balm which she really loves. So someone from America sending a Burt's Bees selection had big kudos value with her.

Pilau has successfully destroyed three of the plastic balls on the chew toy, and is very proud of himself. Must be a well-made toy to last this long! Most of his toys are shredded/dismantled/broken into tiny pieces within half an hour at the most. He's had at least two hours of play altogether and the toy still lives! remarkable. He obviously likes it because every so often he drags it from amongst his toys and scoots off to the sofa with it, without any encouragement needed from me. Very happy dog.


[eta] further update: Pil's just removed the final plastic ball from the toy lol. It is now a rope circle with little rubber collars around it. Now comes the fun of shredding the rope!

Nirvana, I was yours. :) I hope you enjoy!

Did Jaydaan ever get hers? :(

Thanks Case it was awesome! :)

i don't think so.


I'm going to send her another. such a bummer.

Nothing yet... I have been watching every day, and there has been at least one person home for the past 12 days (since hubby hurt his back). I looked today as well..... with the holiday now our next chance at mail is monday

This is seriously seriously fucked up. I feel terrible for you Jaydaan.

Bri sent it in plenty of time. i think it must just have been way too attractive to those customs dudes. at least we had no lame santas AT ALL this year....just a late one or two ;)

Damn postal service...

You can say that again. :neutral:

Hiya Sammy! I'm from Houston. ;) I hope the Scottie dog is sitting on your table. :D If you have trouble with replacing the battery to the clock, let me know. I can do that for you. :)

And I'm your second-striking-Secret-Santa,* SamIam. Was running a little behind, sorry :o

(*The cat thingies are erasers)

OK, I thought my SS was Tulip, as my gift was mailed from Houston. Now I'm confused! Who else is from Houston...Juniper, was it you?

You're welcome! :)

I'd really love it if my SS would identify themselves. Pilau would like to thank them properly for his chew toy :P

Tulip was touched by FSM and is omnipresent :lol:

Ah ha...thanks, Tulip!

omnipresent reminded me of this song

You're welcome. :blush:

Nope, I'm in Ohio. :D

Thank you so much. It was a nice gift with many little things in it. I got confused on the cats because they were with the nail file. A friend of mine told me they were erasers, too. I don't know if I can bear to use them - they are so cute!

Thanks again and Happy New Year! :)

You're welcome. :p I hope the brownies weren't hard as a rock by the time you got to them. Sorry, should've warn ya about them. I assumed everyone were like me, ripping packages open as soon as they come. :p You have such discipline. :D

Woot! Thankee Juni! Those chocs were deelish!

Pilau would also like to thankyou and inform you (rather proudly) that he's completed the 'game': the chew toy is now a rope ring, sans balls and sans rubber collar-pieces. The rubber collar pieces have been dismantled quite thoroughly and the component bits are spread around my living room :P

I got my gift today!!!!! YAY

It is a little brass dragon, a dragonblood stone (to go into my rock collection on my altar) a small silk change purse ( going in my purse today as I lost my change purse last year) and a postcard size picture of a dragon, its one I like as its a green version of the red one on my wall in my living room ;) If you look close the tail and wings wrap together to make a pentacle of sorts.

I love it all, and thank my secret santa very much. I will post pictures as soon as some one gets home with a computer that can read my capture card. My computer is too old.

Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooo!

I feared the worst.

And now I'm jealous. i want dragons. more dragons. beest got me a cool dragon puppet for whatevermas, though :D

I love dragons, our living room is full for posters, statues etc. I got a dragon rider lamp for Christmas, its really cool. The globe the dragon is holding is the actual lamp.

Yay!!!!!!!!!! But it sure took a long time to get to Canada. I wonder what went wrong.

I love dragons more than you do so stfu. I got a dragon door knocker for my birthday. :p

:lol:

All my posters and shit are still in the basement though -we've only been here 9 years, far too soon to unpack!

Don't shit in the basement Monnie, you need the space for hobos.