Secret Santa 2022

I just did one Secret Santa in 2022. In the past I've done more, but I wanted to cut it down to just one. I always really like The Broke and The Bookish's swap, so I signed up to send two books and some goodies to someone, and receive the same back. I got Jo as the person I was sending to, and I bought two books off her wishlist and then was careful to choose other things that I thought she would like. I bought a gonk decoration when we went to Chatsworth Christmas market, and I bought the plain chocolate that she liked, Aero and Galaxy. I sent the parcel about ten days before Christmas. Jo was really active on the #TBTBSanta hashtag, and I have followed her on Twitter for years, so I was looking forward to her opening and appreciating the presents.

Sadly, on the 19th of December her brother told us on her twitter account that she had died of pneumonia. Certainly, she had been ill with a bad cold - but surely it had been just a bad cold?? Until it wasn't, I suppose. I can't tell you how much Jo will be missed in book twitter. She worked at Foyles in Charing Cross and talked all the time about fab LGBTQIA books that were coming out. I can't tell you how many books I ordered just because Jo talked about them! I am truly saddened by her death and I was really sad that she wouldn't get to open and appreciate her presents. 

However, I received a really lovely parcel from Sharon! Sharon actually sent my gifts for the same swap a few years ago, and as then she did brilliantly! These were well thought out and personalised presents and for that I'm really grateful. I got three books off my wishlist, two of which I had totally forgotten about and one of which is the prettiest book of cross stitches. I got chocolate and a hot chocolate packet, and pens, and a brilliant wax melt kit! I am always burning wax melts so it'll be nice to make my own! I was thoroughly spoilt, thank you so much Sharon! 

The second photo is of the books I got for Christmas including the two novels I got from Sharon. The others were all from my in laws - Lee's brother bought me the Janice Hallett book and Lee's sister bought me the two M A Bennett books. I can't wait to get to them!