Secret Santa gift exchange! discussion

Welcome to our 2023 gift exchange! Please introduce yourself here, and don't forget to register on Elfster!

Guys, this is our 11th year!

https://www.elfster.com/gift-exchange...

Oh man have I been waiting for this! It’s always a pick-me-up when the universe goes crazy like it always seems to do this time of year. I’m Daniel, and this is my 5th exchange. I can’t wait so see all the generous elves spread some cheer! Thank you again, Heather for heading this up!

Hello everyone, new and old to our secret Santa exchange, my name is Chad. Last year was another success, I enjoyed giving and certainly loved watching so many people receive gifts 🎁 and as with last year, I was blown away by the overall thoughtfulness, gratitude and generousness of every participant and those super generous elves that came along as the exchange went on, it always makes my heart soar and the holidays so much more brighter, cheerier and that much more special! Thanks to Heather for organizing this amazing and wonderful event each and every year!!

What a year it has been, I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic, which lead to me shedding around 20 pounds (I feel great), also this past August I lost my sister at the age of 64 to metastatic lung cancer 😢😭😢…Here’s hoping next year is a better year 🤔

Hugs to all!! Let the festivities begin!!!

Helloooo! My favourite time of year on Goodreads is here!
I'm Louise, disabled single mum of one almost 16-year-old son, I live in the Yorkshire Dales and read pretty much anything MM apart from horror and psychological thrillers.
I also love historical biographies and my favourite history period is the Middle Ages up to the Wars of the Roses.

Sending big thanks to Heather for organising it once again, I've lost count of how many times I've taken part but it's always such a joy.

Also sending massive hugs your way @Chad for your loss 💗

Hi everyone Angela this is my 8th year participating I have been looking forward to this exchange.

This is my favorite thing during the holiday season, and I'm thrilled to participate again for the 11th time!!

Can't wait to see the books flying!

I feel like I been waiting all my life to reintroduce myself to the group 😌

Hello Lovelies. So glad I'll be joining again with yall. I've actually lost count now on how many exchanges I've participated in but I've enjoyed myself every year. I expect it will be another fantastic event.

Chad James wrote: "Hello everyone, new and old to our secret Santa exchange, my name is Chad. Last year was another success, I enjoyed giving and certainly loved watching so many people receive gifts 🎁 and as with la..."


**Hugs**

Hi everybody! So excited to be back again for this exchange. Can't wait to get started, I know it's going to be awesome again this year.

Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place. I usually stick to M/M, but I've fallen hard into the Ice Planet Barbarians books and recently mainlined all 20 books in the main series!!

20!?!? I didn't know there were that many now. I think I had stopped when I think there were going on 10 and Dixon started doing spin offs of the series

Shari-amor wrote: "20!?!? I didn't know there were that many now. I think I had stopped when I think there were going on 10 and Dixon started doing spin offs of the series"

Yes!! There are sooo many. I love them.

Hello!! This is my first time in the group and participating. Happy to be here and to have received an invite :)

I am Hemmel, from The Netherlands. I work with rabbits and horses and live with my husband and son. I read contemporary M/M the most.

ETA: I will not join.

Hi everyone! I'm Iam, this is my... 4th of 5th time participating in this exchange I believe.

I'm from Germany, so not gonna lie, the whole gifting process can be a little complicated, I really hope it'll be made easy for my match and that they are from Germany too haha! But even if not, we'll figure things out, even if it's with gift cards :)

I've been reading a lot of SciFi and horror lately, but I'm a romance reader at heart. Plus, SciFi or horror mixed with romance... perfection!

Wishing everyone another wonderful exchange filled with joy and good books <3

Hi everyone! My name is Taylor and this is my first secret santa book exchange! I’m so excited to be doing this! I’m a 23 year old grad student based in Boston, MA studying mental health counseling, set to graduate in May(!!!!!!!). I love all things queer, smutty, and kinky when it comes to books, and have a soft spot for feral cat colonies on the internet!

Hi guys! I am new here. My name is Marbelis. I am Cuban, but I live in Florida.

I read pretty much about everything in the fiction category, but this year, I have been focusing more on MM, Dark romance, RH, spicy sports romance, and alien and monster romance :) With a side of dragon fantasy.

I am excited to meet you all.

Good morning/afternoon/evening/diurnal anomaly to all. My name's Richard, I have no idea how long I've been doing this delightful exchange except every time Heather has invited me to, and there's nothing better than giving people stuff to read in my world.

I'm genre agnostic with the exception of religion-themed reads, which I require to be non-fiction. I hope no one minds getting Amazon books from me because factors beyond my control limit me to that avenue of gifting. Happy Halloween to all who, like me, are still waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

Hi! I'm Kristy. I live in a suburb of Houston. Spend most of my time on Bookstagram these days and reading and reviewing. I love romance and mysteries. This is my 5th year, I think.

I love all the positivity and generosity of this group! It's a smile on a gloomy day.

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place. I usually stick to M/M, but I've fallen hard into the Ice Planet Barbarians books and recently mainlined all 20 books in the main series!!"

HEEEAATHEEERRR

The *LEAST* you could do is nor book-bullet me even before the exchange even STARTS! There's a reason I hadda make a separate "heather-is-evil" shelf in My Books.

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place. I usually stick to M/M, but I've fallen hard..."

I'm on the path to read her whole Rubyverse. I'm 26/68 books in. Still, a long way to go.

Hi everyone 👋

My name is Ami, I've been doing this since its inception so that means for the past 11 years. Looking forward to doing this all over again, spreading joy in this time of year

I'm from Indonesia and I LOVE romance. The majority of my favorite books are romance. I also like to read urban fantasy, paranormal, and mystery ... though if they have romance, the better they are for me

Hello, my name is Bruna and its my first year doing this (happily accept help to figure out how this works!!!!). I'm 27 years old, live in Brasil and currently studying psychology. I love to read romance, horror and fantasy books.

Hello everyone! My name is B and I've been doing this I think since its inception so a long time and I look forward to it every single year!

I love romance, mystery, suspense, fantasy, action, paranormal, almost anything fictional really...but at the moment I've been reading a lot of sports romances, but all romance is welcome. lol

Richard wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place...."

Haha- love you, Richard!

⊱♡︎❀⊰ Marbe⊱❀♡︎⊰ wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place...."

I'm literally going to read all of her books back to back! They just make me sooo happy

So very happy to be here again. I am a little north of Houston and have been for 45 years. That's a long time in one place! I love anything MM. I am retired and teaching myself to quilt and loving it!

Hi Everyone
so happy to be here again. This is my favourite gift exchange and I look forward to it all year.
I live in Australia and read pretty much any m/m books with a side of m/f thrown in occasionally.
Welcome to all the newbies

Hi all!
I'm so happy to be back for what I think is my 4th year of the exchange. It has become one of the highlights of my year.
I live in Sweden with my husband and our dog Toby. When I'm not reading I'm probably working or writing songs. I read 99.8% MM Romance.
I can't wait to meet old friends and new people. Let the holiday season begin 😍

Hi, thank you Heather for inviting me again, I am looking forward to this fun every year :)

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this exchange is my happy place. I usually stick to M/M, but I've fallen hard..."

Ah, I was in that space a while back myself.

Hi, all! I'm Tj. I have participated many years in this event. I'm excited for this new giving season to begin.

I'm a married mother of two, with two grandsons. I recently moved to Missouri after my husband retired. I am a homemaker (that always sounds so strange to me). I'm enjoying my new state, except for them being so conservative.

Hi friends! I'm so excited. This exchange brings me such joy and I'm so grateful for all the participants and Heather's energy and efforts.
Merry wishes to you all!

Hi yall! I'm nic :) This is my 2nd exchange and I was honestly shocked when I got the notification for this.. where has this year gone??? Either way, I was so excited to be invited last year and was blown away by the joy and kindness in this exchange. I can't wait to do it again!

I'm a 24yo first year medical student in Pennsylvania who is currently in mourning due to the impact of classes on my reading time😭 My reading this year has been ~60% romance, with a surprisingly even split btwn MM & MF. The other 40% is mostly nonfiction & scifi/fantasy!

Thank you Heather for doing this again this year ((H))

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "⊱♡︎❀⊰ Marbe⊱❀♡︎⊰ wrote: "Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Yay!! Hi, friends!

I'm heather- I've been running this little party for 11 years. I love shopping and giving gifts so this ex..."


Yes! She gets me out of reading slumb. Try to read them in the reading order that she has on her website. After book #14 of Barbarian Planet, she starts mixing them a bit and the overall story makes more sense. Is not 100 necessary but when I read them I had some AHH moments.

Thanks for doing this again Heather! It's the best secret gift exchange I've ever done.

Hi everyone and Happy Holidays!
I've been doing this exchange since 2015 - thank you so much for running the finest gift exchange ever Heather!!! This is the best time of year :).
❄️☃️❄️☃️❄️☃️❄️☃️❄️☃️❄️☃️

Hi! This is my 4th or 5th year to participate. It's just so fun to give and receive books in the exchange! I love reading Romance, especially historical. I look forward to the joy of reading about everyone's goodies.

Hi I'm Dana! First time participant, SO excited to be part of the club :D :D

I'm currently on a little bit of a reading break as my mind and body have been consumed by Baldur's Gate, but I'll be back at it with the wild and the wonderful (mostly wild, let's be honest) soon! I read anything really, of any pairing, strongly gravitating towards fantasy and sci fi romance like a moth to one of those zappy bug lights.

Love to be a part of this! Thanks Heather for running it <3 <3

Hullo, I'm Kaylee and I look forward to this exchange so much since joining. This time of year is very rough for me but being here and seeing all the generosity and fun is so wonderful.

Thanks again to Heather for hosting. You're amazing!

Hi all - old friends and new! 😍

So nice to see so many of you coming back here year after year. I've been participating in this exchange since 2013 and it's one of the most amazing winter events for me.

I read MM most of the time, but every now and then sneak in a good mystery/suspense regardless of MCs' sexual orientation.

@✰ baby t ✰
Hi, Taylor! We are neighbors 🙂 I live 40 minutes west of Boston and my twins go to college there. Always nice to meet someone on GR who lives in the same state!

Heather, thank you so much for keep this event going!

Wish I could join this year but health and finances won't allow me to!

Hi friends! Welcome back to my old friends and hello to the new ones :)

Hi everyone!

Signed up on Elfster but forgot to check in here! I'm Ron-Michael and this has been quite a year. My husband of 20 years passed away in January, then our son graduated high school and started college. Really learning quick about empty nesting, but still plan on putting up our 6 trees starting this weekend.

Love Christmas, love reading, love this exchange!

Hi everyone - so excited that this is back!! This is my 2nd year and I'm even more excited now that I know what to expect ❤️

Ron-Michael wrote: "Hi everyone!

Signed up on Elfster but forgot to check in here! I'm Ron-Michael and this has been quite a year. My husband of 20 years passed away in January, then our son graduated high school an..."

I’m so sorry for your loss Ron- Michael

Hi Everyone!
I’m so glad to be back again this year. This group always makes me smile and makes my heart full.

Thank you Heather for organizing and hosting!

Roger - president of NBR United - wrote: "Wish I could join this year but health and finances won't allow me to!"

Will be lurking for the joy factor.

@Roger

Sorry to hear you are skipping this year, but post your link to Elfster here anyway. I am sure there will be many sneaky Elves this year (as any other year 😉) spreading the holiday cheer to all!