Got your gift? Be sure to say "Thank You!" to your Secret Santa!

[Fish Fan]

This is my first year participating in the R2R Secret Santa, and this is already an amazing thread; so much fun! I am just blown away by some of the creative and generous gifts that many have received. I already can't wait to do this again next year!

I want to say thank you to my Secret Santa, whomever that may be! I got a package in the mail today, and I am beyond excited to find out what I got. However, I think I am going to wait to open my package on Christmas, I think that adds to the fun. For now, my package is tucked safely under the tree awaiting the big day.

Now that I think about it though, I hope Santa didn't send anything alive. I guess I'll know if the box starts to smell in a few days lol!

I will post again when I open the package.

Thanks again, Santa!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

 

[Reefing102]

This is my first year participating in the R2R Secret Santa, and this is already an amazing thread; so much fun! I am just blown away by some of the creative and generous gifts that many have received. I already can't wait to do this again next year!

I want to say thank you to my Secret Santa, whomever that may be! I got a package in the mail today, and I am beyond excited to find out what I got. However, I think I am going to wait to open my package on Christmas, I think that adds to the fun. For now, my package is tucked safely under the tree awaiting the big day.

Now that I think about it though, I hope Santa didn't send anything alive. I guess I'll know if the box starts to smell in a few days lol!

I will post again when I open the package.

Thanks again, Santa!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

You can always ask Santa to message your Santa and make sure it’s not alive

 

[Fish Fan]

You can always ask Santa to message your Santa and make sure it’s not alive

Hmmmm, I was kind of just joking, but maybe I should..... Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[bdesign]

OKAY... so I apologize in advance for a brag post, but as you'll see, it's more than necessary.

A THANK YOU! is not even enough of a thank you for what I've received.

WARNING
Here's a long little story of what transpired:

My Secret Santa messaged that a livestock delivery would be shipping on Monday for a Tuesday delivery - hooray!

Tuesday arrives, and UPS delivers the box.

I was immediately struck by the box - it seemed too professional to be from a hobbyist... hmmm...

I opened the box, and a flyer from Tidal Gardens was inside... "Odd they would put that in there," I thought.

I pulled the perfectly fitting styrofoam cooler from the outer box - "They must have had an old shipping box from some shipment they received in the past. Convenient."

I open the styrofoam cooler, and there are heat packs secured to the lid - "Sheesh! They were prepared!"

I excitedly removed the insulation and "WHAT?!" There were FOUR bags of coral! "They sent way more than the $25 guideline - Oh, gosh!"

I carefully placed the four containers into the display to start the acclimation process and then turned to put the discarded insulation back into the box for disposal. "Why is this box still so heavy," I thought.

I removed the insulation again and pulled the insulation from the bottom of the box only to discover ANOTHER LAYER OF FOUR MORE CONTAINERS. "Good grief! What in the world is going on!!???"

Then I realized I somehow failed to notice the labels on each container, and it dawned on me... " #tidalgardens must have drawn my name! Ah, it all makes sense now..."

"So incredibly nice of them," I thought.

I emailed their customer service address and expressed my sincerest gratitude for the gift.

The reply shocked me - Ben Clark from #tidalgardens explained that they were not my Secret Santa! "Craziness!"

He said my Secret Santa placed a very generous order... and they decided to QUADRUPLE it!

UNBELIEVABLE

Secret Santa, I so very much appreciate the MORE THAN GENEROUS gift - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

#tidalgardens - THANK YOU!! The shipping experience was very professional, and the corals are TRULY beautiful!

 

[Fish Fan]

So in the interest of saving everyone the time, I went ahead and opened my package, and Santa treated me very well! Some much needed 2 part and frag plugs, as well as what looks like a trace element supplement called Isol8, and something called a Pop Stand and I have no idea what it is lol! I saw another member above also received one, so they must be good stuff!

Thank you very much, Secret Santa! I’m very happy with my gifts!

 

[saltypepper]

Got mine!

Thanks Secret Santa!

 

[Kellie in CA]

Got mine!

Thanks Secret Santa!

Your tank is so nice!!! Is that the 120?

 

[ScottJ]

Thank you Secret Santa! The box arrived today. Because they are all wrapped up so nice, I decided to put them under the tree and enjoy opening them on Christmas morning. My wife read your nice note, and told me I'll absolutely love it all! So thank you, and I will post again on Christmas once everything is opened!

 

[Arcticwolf]

Ooooh shoooot, came home to a box of goodies from an awesome Santa!! You really went above and beyond with this package! Even sent some things I wanted that weren't on my list!! I can't thank you enough, whoever you are! But I hope your Santa was equally generous and thoughtful! Happy Holidays to you and yours!! And to everyone else as well! Love this exchange so much and look forward to getting to know each of you a little better.

 

[santeeeyyy]

This is my first year participating in the R2R Secret Santa, and this is already an amazing thread; so much fun! I am just blown away by some of the creative and generous gifts that many have received. I already can't wait to do this again next year!

I want to say thank you to my Secret Santa, whomever that may be! I got a package in the mail today, and I am beyond excited to find out what I got. However, I think I am going to wait to open my package on Christmas, I think that adds to the fun. For now, my package is tucked safely under the tree awaiting the big day.

Now that I think about it though, I hope Santa didn't send anything alive. I guess I'll know if the box starts to smell in a few days lol!

I will post again when I open the package.

Thanks again, Santa!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

ooo same here. This is my first year and next year I can't wait. I have all sorts of ideas. Next year Im gonna be more prepared as this year I was all over the place and I didnt realize I could send multiple gifts. Im waiting on my thank you note as I am currently not at home and I want to show it bc I am super happy and excited on how it makes my tank look.

 

[saltypepper]

Your tank is so nice!!! Is that the 120?

Yes it is! Thank you!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

OKAY... so I apologize in advance for a brag post, but as you'll see, it's more than necessary.

A THANK YOU! is not even enough of a thank you for what I've received.

WARNING
Here's a long little story of what transpired:

My Secret Santa messaged that a livestock delivery would be shipping on Monday for a Tuesday delivery - hooray!

Tuesday arrives, and UPS delivers the box.

I was immediately struck by the box - it seemed too professional to be from a hobbyist... hmmm...

I opened the box, and a flyer from Tidal Gardens was inside... "Odd they would put that in there," I thought.

I pulled the perfectly fitting styrofoam cooler from the outer box - "They must have had an old shipping box from some shipment they received in the past. Convenient."

I open the styrofoam cooler, and there are heat packs secured to the lid - "Sheesh! They were prepared!"

I excitedly removed the insulation and "WHAT?!" There were FOUR bags of coral! "They sent way more than the $25 guideline - Oh, gosh!"

I carefully placed the four containers into the display to start the acclimation process and then turned to put the discarded insulation back into the box for disposal. "Why is this box still so heavy," I thought.

I removed the insulation again and pulled the insulation from the bottom of the box only to discover ANOTHER LAYER OF FOUR MORE CONTAINERS. "Good grief! What in the world is going on!!???"

Then I realized I somehow failed to notice the labels on each container, and it dawned on me... " #tidalgardens must have drawn my name! Ah, it all makes sense now..."

"So incredibly nice of them," I thought.

I emailed their customer service address and expressed my sincerest gratitude for the gift.

The reply shocked me - Ben Clark from #tidalgardens explained that they were not my Secret Santa! "Craziness!"

He said my Secret Santa placed a very generous order... and they decided to QUADRUPLE it!

UNBELIEVABLE

Secret Santa, I so very much appreciate the MORE THAN GENEROUS gift - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

#tidalgardens - THANK YOU!! The shipping experience was very professional, and the corals are TRULY beautiful!

Way awesome! Very cool.

 

[ESABOE]

Every day I am amazed at the people on this forum and today was one of the best days I have had in a very, very long time. I received my Secret Santa gifts. As I started to open each gift and see what each one was, tears began streaming down my face, had to stop and get a tissue as I couldn’t even read his notes through the tears of joy.

@ChrisQ0904 is my Secret Santa and I am truly humbled by the thought that went into each gift and his detective work in finding many of them. I have included photos and the note he put on each (the notes alone, are a treasure to keep)!

One of my favorite non-profits is The Sheldrick Trust in Africa; they rescue orphaned baby elephants and the occasional rhino. I had also mentioned in my questionnaire that I liked to spend weekends reading to my grandson. Chris sent one of the children’s books from Sheldrick so I can read to my Lil Jakey!

My grandmother and her family were Greeks from Constantinople and they had a regional sesame candy that she always had a jar of for the grandkids to eat if we were good. Very hard to find nowadays. Chris not only found them, but sent me a big package of them (hmmm, do I put out for my family to enjoy, or do I hide them just for me…)

Love fun t-shirts and have been wanting to start getting reef-specific ones to wear to LFS and RAP (want to look like the cool kids); Chris sent me one of my favorites

The final gift blew me away. I’m not a collector by nature, but I have inherited our family’s record collection and have been looking for some of my childhood favorites (most are from 50 years ago so hard to find). Not sure how Chris found it and I cringe when I think how much he probably spent, but my very first album was Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and I would spend hours listening to it and studying the surreal album cover art that my 12 yr old mind couldn’t wrap my head around!

Chris, even though I live on the West Coast literally and you live on the East Coast literally, I hope the universe finds a way for us to meet in person some day. Really the best way to say thank you and would love to chat about all things reefing and life over a meal and libations.

 

[Fish Fan]

Thank you Secret Santa! The box arrived today. Because they are all wrapped up so nice, I decided to put them under the tree and enjoy opening them on Christmas morning. My wife read your nice note, and told me I'll absolutely love it all! So thank you, and I will post again on Christmas once everything is opened!

Hi, Scott! I've noticed your posts before and your location, and, well, this just seems like a good time to say Hi and Merry Christmas from Farmington NY! I also wanted to wait to open my package, but I could tell it had liquid in it, and I was afraid maybe there was a fish or critter in there lol! I'm sure you will be nicely surprised when you open your gift on Christmas.

 

[braaap]

Very good gift giving from everyone so far! Lots of thought went into these gifts which is awesome to see!

 

[ChrisQ0904]

Every day I am amazed at the people on this forum and today was one of the best days I have had in a very, very long time. I received my Secret Santa gifts. As I started to open each gift and see what each one was, tears began streaming down my face, had to stop and get a tissue as I couldn’t even read his notes through the tears of joy.

@ChrisQ0904 is my Secret Santa and I am truly humbled by the thought that went into each gift and his detective work in finding many of them. I have included photos and the note he put on each (the notes alone, are a treasure to keep)!

One of my favorite non-profits is The Sheldrick Trust in Africa; they rescue orphaned baby elephants and the occasional rhino. I had also mentioned in my questionnaire that I liked to spend weekends reading to my grandson. Chris sent one of the children’s books from Sheldrick so I can read to my Lil Jakey!

My grandmother and her family were Greeks from Constantinople and they had a regional sesame candy that she always had a jar of for the grandkids to eat if we were good. Very hard to find nowadays. Chris not only found them, but sent me a big package of them (hmmm, do I put out for my family to enjoy, or do I hide them just for me…)

Love fun t-shirts and have been wanting to start getting reef-specific ones to wear to LFS and RAP (want to look like the cool kids); Chris sent me one of my favorites

The final gift blew me away. I’m not a collector by nature, but I have inherited our family’s record collection and have been looking for some of my childhood favorites (most are from 50 years ago so hard to find). Not sure how Chris found it and I cringe when I think how much he probably spent, but my very first album was Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and I would spend hours listening to it and studying the surreal album cover art that my 12 yr old mind couldn’t wrap my head around!

Chris, even though I live on the West Coast literally and you live on the East Coast literally, I hope the universe finds a way for us to meet in person some day. Really the best way to say thank you and would love to chat about all things reefing and life over a meal and libations.

Glad everything arrived safe and sound! I'm beyond excited that I got everything right and that it made you so happy. Hope you have a great rest of your holidays!

 

[ESABOE]

Glad everything arrived safe and sound! I'm beyond excited that I got everything right and that it made you so happy. Hope you have a great rest of your holidays!

Thank you again Chris! And may you and your family be well and enjoy the holiday season.

Sending you some gratitude in the mail.

 

[jsker]

Thank you to my Secret Santa, my gift request arrived 12/8. The children are happy!!

 

[ScottJ]

Hi, Scott! I've noticed your posts before and your location, and, well, this just seems like a good time to say Hi and Merry Christmas from Farmington NY! I also wanted to wait to open my package, but I could tell it had liquid in it, and I was afraid maybe there was a fish or critter in there lol! I'm sure you will be nicely surprised when you open your gift on Christmas.

Hello and Merry Christmas!

 

[shrimpnreefdude]

Thank you to my Secret Santa! I don't know your username, but I have your name. Just today, we visited a LFS to check out coral. My daughter got so excited to try on the Kraken glasses. She was so pumped, walking around and checking things out. And look what arrived today! I let her have them. She'll be enjoying this tank with me for many years. Those glasses are a blessing! Her smile was everything when she them. Thank you! Now that she stole my gift, I'll have to order myself some. Haaa haaa.

The other goodies are exactly what I was hoping for too. I nearly ordered the small feeders last week. And the battery pump was about to get ordered this week!

A little sneak peek into a progress shot of the IM50 Lagoon that I haven't started a journal on yet. It's coming...but I did get coral today! With some help from a certain pair of glasses! And let me say...I walked out of the store with something I absolutely 100% did not think I would be getting. Heee heee. So keep your eyes open for the journal.

Thanks again for the gifts. This has been a fun and easy way to bring smiles and joy to so many.