Secret Santa!

Came home after a long week of work to this little puppy, came all the way from Galway, Ireland! I asked for some local gifts so I can soak up some of the culture. Let's see what's inside!

Jackpot! Some very nicely wrapped gifts, a bag of coins, and a folded up piece of paper!

My younger brother wanted to get in some seductive poses in, how could I say no.

And yes, he's single. But we're not here for him! On to the presents!

@unexpectedcomment wrote an amazing letter that goes through every item that they got. (And don't worry, I listened to the spoiler warning!) Having a hard time reading it? Well, I'm just going painstakingly type their quote for each item because I thought it was pretty cool insight. As well as put my own thoughts in!

Oh no.. my secret obsession with Ariana Grande has been revealed..

"The first gift I picked up was a picture of the pier in Galway. The main beach in Galway city is Salthill and at the very end of this beach there is a pier where everyone jumps off. When it isn't raining in Galway (very rarely) and the sun is out (also very rarely) this is one of my favourite places to be! Everyone is jumping of that pier - even little kids!!"

Really love this picture! Reading about jumping off the pier reminds me of when I was a kid in my hometown of Stevenson, Washington and jumping off the docks in the summer, and probably just as cloudy and rainy too!

"The second gift I picked up for you was a lather key ring. You can see there are strange marking on it and you're probably thinking "What the f*ck is this shit". The "language" is Ogham. It servers as an alphabet for one of the ancient Celtic languages. I'd like to be able to say for certain that it's of Irish origin but I cannot. The makings of your keyring spells out "SONAS". Sonas is the Irish word for happiness. It's a bit cheesy I know but you ask for it so it's your own fault"

When I opened this up, the very first thing I thought was "What the fuck is this shit!?". Then I read the letter it made so much sense. I probably laughted to myself for 10 minutes straight.

This is definitely the kinda gift I was looking for.
I had no idea what Ogham was, so learning about it was really fascinating. The cheese factor was a plus too!

The back!

Fits snuggly with my keys.

"Next up I got you a book. To be brutally honest I have no idea what is in it. One thing I do know is that if it's the type of Irish folklore I hope it is then you are in for a treat! Some of the old Irish tales are BAD ASS!! There are a lot of stories in it from what I can see so hopefully you will like at least one of them. And if you don't like reading then at least they're short enough that you won't be suffering that long."

I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into this book. I do some writing of my own, including DMing my own DnD homebrew. I'm not familiar with any Irish Folklore, so I'm excited to read into them and maybe help with some inspiration with my own writing!

Last but not least I picked up a classic Irish comedy box set! Father Ted is an old TV show that is lived in nearly every household in Ireland. I truly hope you enjoy it - it gives an insight into old Irish people definitely. I was going to download it and put it on a memory stick but strangers can't be trusted - at least you'll always have the box now"

I'm a huge fan of comedies! I think I've head of Father Ted before, but never seen any. I'm probably gonna hunker down this weekend and see how many I can get through.

Money! There wasn't any comments on it, but it's they're my first euro coins.

Thank you @unexpectedcomment for sending this all the way from Ireland! Definitely appreciate the local gifts. As well as the postcard too! This was exactly the kinda gifts I was looking for. Couldn't have asked for a better Secret Santa!

Edit: Please send potential internet girlfriend requests for my single brothers
Update: http://imgur.com/a/97p5c