She wanted something in the mail other than bills. She got the ultimate gifts from a Bill instead. As in Bill Gates.
Everyone’s favorite Secret Santa has struck again as part of Reddit Gifts, the annual online gift exchange that unites internet strangers and attracts a certain Microsoft billionaire.
Reddit user Szor posted over the weekend about what was inside a giant box she received from Washington state. It was Szor’s 95th time taking part in the giving campaign, and she called Gates “a blessing” for the thoughtfulness that went into what he provided.
Raise your hand if matching with Bill Gates for #RedditGifts Secret Santa is a life goal. ????♀️Just when she needed it most, one lucky giftee (u/szor) struck Secret Santa gold & was blessed with the Christmas of a lifetime. Well done, @BillGates. https://t.co/pZelK3ao9v pic.twitter.com/RY4DrKHU6g
— Reddit (@reddit) December 21, 2019
“I want to thank Bill Gates, of course, for even participating in Reddit Gifts,” Szor said in one of two video she posted on YouTube. “He’s probably a very busy man. He might have a crew helping him … anybody involved in this, including Bill Gates, thank you so much. This has been very thoughtful.”
Here is Szor’s “initial freakout” video:
Gifts included a variety of super-geeky items, including a Harry Potter Santa hat and some very large LEGO sets. Here’s a quick rundown of the items as she listed them in her Reddit post:
- Bill’s Deck of Books 2019!
- A Harry Potter Santa hat
- Hylian shield earrings
- A very heavy and beautiful handmade Zelda quilt
- A hammock (with bug net!)
- Almond Rocca, Seattle mint chocolates, Jelly Belly’s
- Toys for my cat, Emmy!
- Seven packs of assorted Oreos
- A cat-themed logic game
- Eight hardcover books
- An extremely fancy manuscript copy of The Great Gatsby
- A candle with a passage from The Great Gatsby inscribed
- Two exceptional adult-level LEGO sets: Microscale Hogwarts and the retired UCS R2D2 (truth be told, I had previously splurged on both of these sets already; you must have gotten a perfect read on my interests so color me impressed!)
- A plethora of Twin Peaks gifts including a shirt and sweatshirt; a book by director Jonathan Sanger and some memorabilia from his collection including 5 scripts from season 2 of Twin Peaks, and an embroidered L.L. Bean jacket worn by crew members during the second season of the show.
In her post, Szor said 2019 has been a “complete rollercoaster of emotions.” She lost her mother unexpectedly in March, just 10 days before her wedding, and said it has been hard to drum up holiday spirit this year.
“The gift that you gave in my mom’s name to American Heart Association means so much to me,” Szor said in her video. “You don’t even know.”
Here’s a video of Szor unwrapping everything:
Gates began participating in Reddit Secret Santa back in 2013 and got involved organically. Reddit says he simply signed up as any other user would. All Secret Santa participants are matched completely randomly.
