Bill Gates takes part in a rather unusual project every year. He adds a paper with his name to the hat and turns himself into a Secret Santa. And every year one of Reddit subscribers gets their dream gift from Bill Gates himself.
"I left this morning (12/16/2016) about 7:30 to go return something at Target and drop MY gift off at the post office on my way back home. I get home at about 9 and there's a FedEx door tag, delivery came by at 7:58 to drop off a package, so I called to see if they could come back by. FedEx lady on the phone said she wasn't sure if they'd be able to come back today, but they definitely would tomorrow. Not kidding like 15 minutes later my door buzzer goes off and the guy came back! He dropped of this freakin HUGE BOX and I saw c/o Aerrix on it and I just started flipping out! I had no idea what it could be and I was just SO EXCITED. I was ALSO confused because my Santa JUST SHIPPED YESTERDAY. This was a GIANT box, and overnighted...I was just...flabbergasted! I get the box inside and the pets had to inspect immediately. Pets for scale."
"So then I get the box open and there's just bubble wrap EVERYWHERE, but under the first layer I see a picture...and my jaw. Just. Drops. I will let the picture speak for itself! I immediately call my husband at work, I normally text him first to make sure it's ok if I call but I couldn't wait...he answered and I spoke very quietly because I knew if I didn't I would just yell, and I said something like "dear, please tell me you can talk right now," and he sounded worried and he's like "yes? What's going on?" And I said BILL GATES IS MY FREAKIN SANTA!!!!!!!! I worried him too much, it took a second for it to sink in but oh MAN I was excited and flipping out! He had to get back to work so I called my mom and talked to her and sent pics the whole time I was opening presents!"
"He sent a very nice note speaking to a couple past experience I'd had with exchanges...well boy did he make up for everything!"
"I got everything out and laid it out all nice, and there was glitter EVERYWHERE. I just had to go for the two unwrapped boxes that said "Aerrix's Mittens" and "Clairrix's Mittons" first. My dog's name is Claire, btw, how freakin CUTE IS THAT?! He got me ZELDA MITTENS and you guys, matching ones for my DOWG!"
"He got me ZELDA MITTENS and you guys, matching ones for my DOWG!"
"Next I open the three pink boxes stacked together, and it's three special edition wireless XBOX one controllers! I was confused, but only for a moment, because then I noticed the specific SIZE of the big pink box to my left....I knew what it was, I KNEW WHAT IT WAS."
"It was an XBOX ONE MINECRAFT EDITION!!!!!!!!! There was also a handwritten note from him that says "I love my XBOX and thought you might like one too." Well yes, yes I would! And I do! I'm just flipping out at this moment (so is my mom on the phone, I'm sending her all these pics AS I'm taking them)."
"I press on, and I opened the slippers he mentioned in his note! I put them on immediately and I am still wearing them, after taking them off for 30 seconds to get my very last picture!"
"Next I open this awesome looking Cajun cookbook (I'm from Southern Louisiana and mentioned this in my exchange profile, also that I would be visiting there soon and couldn't wait for my Uncle's Cajun Thanksgiving food! It was absolutely amazing, btw, my Uncle is kinda the best)."
"As I was setting the book to the side, I notice a sticky note in it, so I investigate. There was another hand written note from him that read "Aerrix, Since you're originally from Louisiana and miss your Uncle's Cajun cooking, I thought you might enjoy trying some of the recipes from this cookbook." I'm just speechless! My mom couldn't stop gushing over how sweet it was. I will try the book soon!"
"I then choose a rather squishy package to open, and I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped again. He definitely was spot on with all the Zelda stuff! I got a Zelda tie blanket! I know he didn't know this, but I'd been looking at that specific fabric online and wanting it for the past several months, but couldn't justify making/getting ANOTHER blanket for myself BUT THIS IS TOTALLY THE ONLY ONE I WILL USE FOREVER MORE. It's totally in my lap RIGHT NOW, and my dog is on top of it. :)"
"Next, I reach for a box that has a tag on it that says "Be careful this gift is very fragile" and I really couldn't tell you how long it took me to open it I was being SO CAREFUL!!!"
"You guys...it's a PAPER, seriously all made out of PAPEEEEERRRRRRRRRR version of the final form Master Sword from Skyward Sword! Whaaat! I'ma need a shadowbox to put this bad boy in because it is being DISPLAYED. It's just so awesome looking!"
"The next item I opened was just....absolutely amazing. It was wrapped in SO MUCH BUBBLE WRAP I'm pretty sure it took me 3 minutes to open. So. Worth. It's a Zelda picture frame with Link and Zelda made with PERLER BEADS ON IT! Beading is a huge pastime of mine, so again, spot on with this gift! And the picture in it is just the best...he used my profile picture on here of me, my husband, and my dog, PHOTOSHOPPED HIMSELF IN, and put Santa hats on all of us! Come on now, that is the cutest thing! I just couldn't get over it and my mom thought it was hilarious. XD"
"The aforementioned movies came next. Two of them I have never heard of, but will be watching soon, and he also sent The Martian! I absolutely LOVE that movie and didn't even have it on my list of favorites, I really don't know why. I'm really looking forward to watching The End of the Tour though! I love Jason Segel. XD"
"I tear into the next box and I just...I lost it yall. I did. I started screaming like a little girl to my mom on the phone...I was just blown away! An NES Classic Edition! WHAAAAAAT! I've wanted one of these SO BAD! And NOW I HAVE ONE! BECAUSE BILL GATES! GAH! ldsfjhgdlfjgbsldfjgkdflg That's all I can say! That's it!"
"There's still one more thing to open and I'm just over here like what else in the world could there possibly be?! I go for the last gift, (it was the prettiest wrapping imo), and it's Halo 5 Guardians (Limited Edition, of course) and the new Tomb Raider YOU KNOW FOR MY NEW XBOX ONE YOU GUYS!!! And there's also a YEAR'S WORTH of gold membership cards!! WOOOOO!"
"I staged my haul all pretty like, put the dog in the pic, and took the best Secret Santa pic there ever was. You guys, I am just, SPEECHLESS! I know I said that like twice before, then wrote this giant wall...but like, I work overnights and normally go to bed around 9:30am and it's 11:14 now and I just can't bring myself to do it! I want to look at my pretty Zelda things and hook up my new consoles and PLAY VIDEO GAMES! GAH! I will force myself to go to bed and then play video games when I wake up. Merry Christmas to all yall out there, and to Mr. Gates, who has the biggest heart and REALLY KNOWS HOW TO TREAT A GIRL TO SOME VIDEO GAMES (and video game paraphernalia)! I'm just blown away by his generosity, which went even further than all these gifts because he submitted a donation to code.org in my name to give more students the chance to learn computer science, which is AWESOME because it's something near and dear to my heart as my husband is a programmer and my brother has a degree in computer science!"
