TRS Secret Celestia 2019 gift exchange thread!

[Sailor Yue]

Still waiting eagerly for my Santee to open their gifts. I know they got them, Amazon said so!

[SlateSlabrock]

Still nothing in my mailbox yet, so I might have been Corvy's, sorry it failed to get to you and you had to reorder something.

It was not, but yours might be running a little late. I'll check with your Santa to see if there's any update on it.

[Perrydotto]

A bit later than planned but here's a few pictures of Lucas enjoying his gifts too.

The best display of approval a gifter could ask for!

[Aramek]

It was not, but yours might be running a little late. I'll check with your Santa to see if there's any update on it.

There's only a few that mentioned it, so I guessed!

It's better than last year where mine never cleared Bulgarian customs and was sent back to Japan.

[Davyinatoga]

Still waiting eagerly for my Santee to open their gifts. I know they got them, Amazon said so!

They're here and they're loved! I haven't mustered the energy to take pics and post it here yet, let me remedy that.

[Davyinatoga]

Early December, the first part of my gift arrived: a small package direct from the vendor. I was expecting a completely different package from the same region, so I wasn't too sure if my order had gotten mixed up or it was part of my SC gifts.

It's a nice tree ornament that read "Happy every day," which hit me a little harder than anybody would probably expect. It's definitely a mantra that rings true to my younger self, something I feel like I've distanced myself too far in recent years. Even without a tree to hang it on this year, it's something I really appreciate and will make sure to hang it every year that I can.

A couple weeks later came a bigger box with some more goodies and a few notes about each one that revealed my Secret Celestia (Amazon is a poo like that)!

On the left are a bottle of chile sauce and a sparkly Pinkie Pie! The note says that the chiles in the sauce are locally sourced in their area, which is really cool (see: hot). It's rated a 3/10 on their hotness scale, which is pretty close to where I feel the optimum heat setting should be. A decent enough kick of heat without smothering out all the other flavors. I have yet to try it, but I'm working on getting a night planned with friends so we all can get some homemade burgers and give it a taste.

On the right are some toys to add to the nostalgia display collection. Hey Arnold! was a great show that had a lot of good messages and life lessons in it without getting too preachy, and a large number of episodes have aged very well. Coincidentally, my parents gifted me a pair of Hey Arnold underpants. Yay, matching gifts!

It was a lovely set of gifts, Sailor Yue, thank you very much! It's an embarrassment of riches that my santas consistently hit as many suggestions on my list as possible (even when I expect only one or two), and you certainly lived up to the standards set before you.

[Davyinatoga]

You thought that was it with the ornament, huh?

I didn't mention that the customs package doesn't list an ornament. It does say "thumb piano" though.

This is gorgeous. It has such a gentle, muted tone, and feel sturdy in my hands. The adjustable necklace is a very nice touch, too. I think it may even be tunable to a small degree, based on the construction. I love it so much, thank you again Sailor Yue!

[Sailor Yue]

Yeah, I had seen a kalimba on Tumblr a day or 2 prior to assignments going out, and when you said unique instrument I figured getting one of them, and a full sized one would have capped the limit automatically, so i got a miniature travel one. They are tunable, you just need a small multi tool hammer and precision screw driver. I panicked after the order shipped when I reread your list when I saw you said AVOID 90'S NICKTOONS .. gotta love selective reading. Glad that worked out. The Pinky Pie was just to avoid shipping cost, lol. As for the chili sauce, Pueblo Chile's are said to be the hottest this side of the border, hopefully you like the sauce

[Octavia]

I have a kalimba and I love the sound it makes. It's used a ton in the ATLA soundtrack.

[Aramek]

Package get, pics soon.

[SlateSlabrock]

Another package arrived! So here are both!

First, an album:


I look forward to listening to it.

Second, this arrived today:





This looks fun, and the cover is adorable. Thanks to CorvusCaw, and my apologies that the mail gnomes made it such a pain.

[Aramek]

My package, crudely jammed into my mailbox, smelled great and was from Bulgaria!



To survive the rigors of travel, it was wrapped with manly layers of paper and tape.



But within, was treasures!




Some manner of I am assuming curry spice blend that is the best smelling thing I've ever smelled in my life.



Three boxes of what I can only assume is legit Turkish Delight. The texture is amazing, and the flavours are subtle and bewildering. Some might be straight up flower flavour.




A CD of what I am, again, assuming is bomb ass jazz. Look at it. It looks like jazz. It smells like jazz.



A shirt covered in what I can only understand as a magic spell.



And a lovely letter from Smoke and family, I love you all very much.

[Davyinatoga]

Three boxes of what I can only assume is legit Turkish Delight. The texture is amazing, and the flavours are subtle and bewildering. Some might be straight up flower flavour.

Awwwwwwwwwwww yeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh That turkish Delight is second only to Aline's chocolates.

EDIT: Awwwwww noooooooooooo

[Smoke]

Ah good, it did arrive. USPS kept telling me at one point there were issues with the delivery status and it's still showing as not delivered now.

Some explanation is in order: The spices are a Bulgarian spice mix and they're supposed to be nicely layered, but it looks like shipping took its toll on that a little bit. It has to be shaken up to use properly though, so that helps . The turkish delight is actually a Bulgarian variant, and is indeed flavored with flowers! The CD was recommended to us as being from an up and coming talent. And the shirt contains one of the most Bulgarian things there is: The original Cyrillic alphabet as designed by Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. Don't let anyone tell you that the Cyrillic alphabet is Russian, as it's a Bulgarian creation. Most of it is still in use today.

[Perrydotto]

At last, one might say as a birthday gift, the Secret Celestia package for the Birb-Dingus household finally made its way to our door!

Find out more behind the tag
vvv

It seems to have made the trip pretty unscathed, thankfully:





Well we had to wait long enough, time to investigate the inside!







Oho, it seems someone remembered my fondness for the smiley and sent none other than the fabulous Surprise and her loyal dog Spot to provide these gifts!





She had these super speedy gifty squeezy words to say:



How eloquent and kind, many thanks!



Surprise sprang for the extra big bubble wrap, very professional! Fontra will love popping this. Amazing gift already.






The inside of the package reveals these neatly wrapped items:





Egotistic as I am, I start with the one that has my name on it and find:





Ooooh excellent! Surprise is a real expert and aims to satiate my hunger for bird knowledge. This will do nicely! I admittedly know very little about New England, let alone its birds, so this will help rectify that.

Opening the book at a random page to showcase the awesome illustrations:






I now know more about strange horny growths. Thank you, Surprise.



Fontra wasn't left out, however, and got this lovely gift of New England knowledge:








Vermont is quite a bit far off from Utah, so this is definitely a good addition to Fontra's historical curiosity. Awesome pick, Surprise!


Random page from this one:



Fontra really likes this book already.




As for the other two items, Surprise makes sure all of our needs are met:



You can seriously never have enough storage. I have like three USB sticks and misplace them on a regular basis so hopefully it will finally stick around this time.


And for the physical needs:



The kinda silly named Grandpa's Stuff is hopefully Good Stuff! It certainly looks super delicious. We haven't had the chance to try it yet, but we definitely will when Fontra comes home from work tonight.

The gifts are fantastic!! Thank you so much, Surprise ... or should we say Davyinatoga, whose name I recognized from the Secret Celestias I organized. You did a fantastic job!! I had no idea you were from Vermont, though, or did you "just" move? In any case, thank you very much for getting creative and sharing a bit of your home with us, we adore it.

[Davyinatoga]

Update us when you find part 2 of your gift there.

[Perrydotto]

Update us when you find part 2 of your gift there.

Part 2? Did I miss something?

[Musings]

Part 2? Did I miss something?

Heh, I actually caught this myself and sent you a DM about it!

I could be wrong, but the packaging for that USB drive looks like it's been opened already...

[Smoke]

Re: Grandpa's Stuff: I can confirm that it's pretty dang great, especially on pancakes!

[CorvusCaw]

Snowfire sent me this cool oystercatcher coffee mug and a new wallet that's decked with toucans and flamingos.

Hell yeah.

[Snowfire]

You're welcome Erica. Hope you like them.

[Perrydotto]

I have investigated the USB stick (getting it back out of that packaging was surprisingly difficult, rip my weak anatomy) and found a bunch of delightful music on it!! Thanks a bunch, Davy!

Special shoutout to Bette Midler, who is not afraid to put shitty politicians on blast:



I'll be listening to her album with gusto.

[Mr. Big]

Thankyou again Charles, knowing you were my santa again I sent you a chrissy card but it will show up late, no doubt.

Indeed it did, because the card finally came today!







It's hard to tell from the capture, but the last card is one of those 3D things. VERY cool.

Thanks, Drunkill!