Thank you to my elf @HereComesZach! The Devon shirt is PERFECT. 
Wilson (mini donk) and Tater (28 y.o. pasture ornament) love the cookies…which are super duper fancy.
Our JRT got into the beautiful discarded wrapping and went into shred mode. 
(You must have doggos or kitties.) As penance, he had wear the ribbon and bells all morning.
THANK YOU!! 
To my amazng elf, @applelover, I’m so appreciative of your gifts!
Imentioned that I used to live for years n Marin County, in San Rafael and Mill Valley and the gifts were all from Marin and Sonoma county or California. I so so so am grateful for gifts from CA businesses.
OK,The CA birds dish towel from a studio in CA is fantastic! Did I not mention how I drove home from the barn to fill teh bird feeders and get rid of the ice for the birds yesterday? This is awesome!
Next, the Reindeer express soap. Do you care if I don’t use it for a year because the smell is so amazing in every room I put it in? I said I love earthy smells. This hits the nail on the head. Dragons blood, Swan Haven Soap, Petaluma CA. I think I want to rub it on my clothes instead of washing with it. Seriously, this is amazing.
Sonoma Spice queen Ethiopian Berbere spice. Organic Ethiopian spices to cook with. I’m such a boring cook and am dying to try this. Will bring this to my foodie friends around the corner from the barn that I had dinner with yesterday and today to get their opinions on what to make with this. Seriously, they are hard-core foodies and cooks. I also used to regularly frequent an Ethiopian restaurant when I lived on the Oakland/Berkeley border. It was my favorit e place to eat. This will bring back memories.
The Muir Woods candle. OMG, it smells so great!!! I lived on the border of Muir woods when I lived in Mill Valley. Eucalyptus is a smell that I so miss from the area and I don’t think you can really appreciate unless you live among them. Even Dr. Bronners doesn’t get it totally right, IMHP.
Yummy sea salt caramel from Sonoma County! Droooooooooool.
And perhaps the immediately loved gift, the carhartt headband. HOW WOULD YOU KNOW that right now I am farmsitting 14 horses in multiple pastures in sub-zero weather? How would you know that I don’ have any good hat or headband to keep warm? I have a bunch, but they are either very thin for under the helmet of knit and not wind proof. This headband was a game changer today because it blocks cold wind and allowed my to take my outer coat off (multiple layers underneath) for the first time. My head was comfy for the first time. Like all carhartt items, this headband stares down adverse weather and says “no”. I love the color and it is currently my best friend.
Thank you so much for sending me local CA gifts largely from my old stomping ground. You did a fantastic job picking out things that I’d love. I’m very serious when I say that I want to keep the soap around for the aroma, will struggle to light the candle instead of smelling it for ages, and snuggle with the headband when I sleep (it is so soft and comfy).
At least I can contact the companies for replacements.
Thank you SOOOO MUUUCCCHHHH for these very wonderful gifts. Your really hit the mark and I appreciate your effort to find me gifts that really spoke to me!
J-Lu
Thank you SO MUCH for the gifts. I will write a proper post and share photos soon. I’ve been overwhelmed with getting out of a bad boarding situation over the weekend due to major safety concerns. And it’s still snowing so I’m hoping the roads will be clear on our way to our new barn tomorrow.
Anyways, I absolutely love them, you outdid yourself!!
@SouthernElf, aka @LadyNeon01,
Best Secret Santa ever!
Besides my first gift of homemade jam, my pile of wrapped gifts included bags of peppermints for each of the horses, bags of fancy treats for the dogs and the cat, my favorite brand of boot socks in a pattern I don’t have, and some fun food items - Beignet mix and some New Orleans spice mixes.
Incredibly thoughtful.
And now for my reveal, in my best James Earl Jones voice - @PaintParty, I am your elf!
@Paint_Party THANK YOU for all of my goodies!! I actually tore into it on Christmas Eve, when we host a little friends only (no kids, no family) party, and I am grateful I did because those people drank up the rest of my (bitter, burnt, Starbucks) coffee! So we broke yours out yesterday morning, which was DELICIOUS! The matching tea towels are adorable.
My partner was thrilled with your chocolates and recognized them from one of our summer shows. GMHA in Vermont incentivizes volunteers with as much chocolate as one could possibly want.
And thank you the most for the kind and supportive words in your beautiful card and the tea towel 
I need all the good mojo I can get!!
@McGurk Aha! 'Tis you! Truly had no idea! Again, thanks so much for everything. You helped make my Christmas special.
@blue_heron Glad you enjoyed the gifts. I don’t drink coffee, so I had to do some research on highly rated coffees. And when I came across a brand on that list with a horse-related name… how could I resist? It was fun shopping for you. Any good mojo toward your horse shopping venture is a complementary bonus gift. 
I can’t believe it’ll be a whole entire year before we do this again. May we all stay healthy and of good spirit until then!
Yay! I am so glad it got there and you loved everything so much! Shopping for you was honestly really easy and fun because our tastes are so similar, I could just buy things that I would want and I knew you would like them too!
Thank you so much for being Head Elf and organizing this wonderful CoTH tradition! It seriously is the most fun part of Christmas shopping for me 
Stay warm out there!!
Yes! Many thanks to J-Lu for organizing!
Yes, @J-Lu you did an awesome job!
And I happen to know that the reindeer were extremely grateful for all the treats and special attention you doled out. On behalf of Santa’s entire team, Blitzen will now express their gratitude through an interpretive dance:
@McGurk, I’m so happy the box got there in time! I knew I was cutting it close but the reindeer came through for me.
I’ve been avoiding the computer for the last few days but I want to thank @HoolieB for all the thoughtful gifts! I patiently waited until Christmas day to open everything. Treats for the horses and cats (love that you included them), a small box of chocolates that I can share with Mr. Neon (he claimed them already but I will fight him to enjoy some myself), a pair of socks, a keychain, and an awesome reusable stall sign! I’m horrible and didn’t get pictures but I love everything!
Hey thanks, guys!!
If you can think of something I should do differently in the future, please let me know.
I swear that all of the reindeer stories are true. They were so fun to interact with! I’ll dial back with the caffeine next year but one who napped here loved the sliced cucumbers on his eyes. It’s those little things in life…
That said, if someone is dying to take Secret Santa over, I’m willing to share! If not, I’m willing to keep this tradition alive! I think the $35 was a great universal cost, even though I totally, totally overspent! I couldn’t help it! So if that’s all cool with everyone, I’m happy to continue our tradition. I just physically can’t post about Christmas before Halloween. I just can’t.
Chief Elf and reindeer fan.
I will get a photo soon with Charlie modeling his new browband and me my scarf, but @YourElf hit it out of the park and we even have a saddle pad to match!
To my secret Santa, I thoroughly enjoyed my gifts! Thank you so much. They gloves especially will come in handy, and the hedgehog is adorable. 
The ponies, of course, will love the treats. I think Dante will look snazzy in the bonnet. I think I will use the cute orname ts as bookmarks! And I will make use of the clothing when I enter my next western dressage class. Thank you, again! It was fun to open.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!
That’s lovely!
@applelover, I’m glad you liked the scarf! When I saw it it just seemed to be the right thing!
And @dressagetraks thank you again for the lovely gifts you sent me!
Thanks, That’s me!! You said you’d like big bling, I got you serious bling in colors you’d like. I hope you liked the light blue silk scarf as well, it seems like it will go with so much! The blue will look so good on your guy and the matching silk scarf will look smashing with the browband.
I always ride with silk scarves in the winter. They are a godsend. Light and WARM.
I really hope you are happy with your new boarding situation. It’s never fun to move barns because of safety issues.
@SharonA. My box arrived today right as I was leaving for work, and I just was able to open it. The cats loved the treats, and the kitten is running around with the bird toy as I write this! The mugs were beautiful, and the candles smell lovely. Plus the human treats, we love real maple syrup! Thank you so much, it was a nice thing to have extra to unwrap after Christmas Day.
I LOVE the bling!! If you wouldn’t mind, could you PM me where you ordered it from? Might be good to know in the future…
The silk scarf…I had no idea it was be so warm. I rode in it Tuesday and it was great. The lightness of it is really nice. I’ll be getting photos of the whole ensemble soon. He wears that color so well too!
Thank you, so far so good! The new barn is a HUGE improvement. If I had to leave for a trip tomorrow I would be ok. It’s a beautiful facility; maintained, clean, staffed, lots of light, full dressage size indoor, bigger outdoor and a little bit of trails. 20 min haul to the vet and the equine hospital in case of an emergency and much closer to places we haul to regularly. Our first coach trains out of it, her counterpart lives in the barn apartment, and the owners live on site which is great peace of mind.
It’s a 42 mile round trip (30 mins) which isn’t as close as I’m used to. The old place was a 16 mile round trip but I would go out twice a day to make sure things were all ok, so I’m really not out much mileage wise. It’s more than double what I was paying for self care before, but as long as I keep my auxiliary spending in check it’s fine 
The old place let me get some more costly things like my cart, custom boots, his auto feeder, new helmet…the list goes on but I’m pretty set knock on wood.
It’s less turnout; 5ish hours in the winter and not in nasty weather but more the rest of the year. But the pastures are safe! The other side is the old barn wouldn’t have been full day TO if there was actual staff and not boarders doing everything that had full time jobs. And the barn before that he was on limited turnout due to their pastures being TOO big and nice; he had gotten mild laminitis there WITH a grazing muzzle. But having an easy keeper that also has a hard time with the heat, who parks himself at the roundbale during turnout doesn’t seem that much different than parking himself in front of his haynet in his stall. They hand walk them if they stay in due to weather too which is nice. Ideally I wish it was more, but…tradeoffs.
I’m so glad you can use everything! I figured no one has too many work gloves around a farm. And the hedgehog dog toy has been quite popular here, so maybe your new puppy will like it, too, when he arrives. Have a wonderful new year!
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