Secret Santa Soiree 2013 Final Post

I hope each and every one has had a lovely holiday season. Once again, it is time for the Secret Santa Soiree Swap to come to an end. I still have a handful who do not have their post up, it may be due to computer problems, camera problems, or out of town, however, I am confident I will be able to update the list to 100% soon. I have heard from every one who is lacking their post, so keep checking back.

I'd like to take a moment to share some thoughts I have had the past few weeks. Most of you who read my blog, know I tend to speak my mind and ramble on....so expect that would be no different with this post. 

There have been situations I have either been a part of, or heard of someone experiencing the same type of situation and it has given me several things to think about. I decided to share them here on this last post and if it is something you can take away from my thoughts and find them useful, then that is great, if you don't get anything out of it, well...just chalk it up to me rambling as I am inclined to do.

Sometimes, the biggest disappointments come from expectations. Now, clearly, there are always expectations in most every thing we do, but I am talking about expectations from people we may not know personally, or expectations that are just too high and not attainable. Sometimes, people have unrealistic expectations of family or friends and when their expectations are not met for what ever the reason may be, they feel slighted or upset. I have learned in the last few years, expectations can lead to misunderstanding, disappointment, and a deeply wounded spirit if I let it.

Secondly, there are no two people on this world that have the same 100% taste in their likes or dislikes. I personally, throughout my lifetime have received gifts that were truly not my taste at all. I have received gifts that were deliberately given to me knowing I would not like them. (yes, I am afraid there has been someone very  much like this in my life and I allowed them to treat me this way for years...no more.) But the key to handling this type of situation was always smiling, thanking them for the gift, (regardless of the motivation behind the gift) and simply letting it go. There is a huge difference in someone maliciously giving terrible gifts, and someone sincerely trying to buy something they think someone will like and just missing the mark. It falls back to no two people have the same taste in all things.

Thirdly, no matter what, no matter how your expectations were not met, no matter what you think should have happened, it is always good manners to thank anyone who does something for you. Period. No matter if it is a small thing, or a big thing. Showing gratitude is very important these days, as we live in a world where very little gratitude is ever displayed.

Likewise, we live in a world where so many types of people interact with each other on various levels. Within our own families, there are difficulties that arise and our own families seem to disappoint and leave us feeling like they just don't get us. It is a fact, I know lots of folks feel this way. When the people closest to us miss the mark at times, how can we possibly expect total strangers to get it 100% right? Yes, there is disappointment but I think it all falls back to unattainable expectations. Clearly, the only thing we can control is how graciously we hold our heads up high, and do the right thing and display a thankful and grateful attitude even if we wish things had been different.

My expectations in hosting this swap each and every year is to give bloggers an opportunity to get to know someone they may not already know. It is ideal if that person has many different interest than myself. I have found if I have someone very different from myself, I usually find that once I have shopped for them, I have truly enjoyed thinking out of my comfort zone in trying to please someone who holds different interest.

Do I always get it right? Maybe not, I really don't know for a fact if I always get it right, but it is not from lack of trying. I am wondering if this is not they way to do things, and maybe I need to try and swap people with similar interest. Please know, it is always in the past and again this year been done in random draw when I assign someone their person. I don't look at names, I use numbers to make the assignments. Please know hosting this swap is a lot of fun for me, and I enjoy all the fun seeing the gifts when the packages arrive. I have not visited all of the participants yet, but I will do that in the next few days. Please take a moment and check out all the participants post about their gifts, it is always great fun~ and thank you to my Secret Santa this year....I am still over the moon about my gifts!

Thanks again for participating this year, and I hope you enjoyed yourself and enjoyed shopping for your swap person!

Below is the list of who had who......please refer to the original LIST to see who's blog belongs to what number.

for example

31 was Coloradolady and she had 21 tweloquilting

1 - 8
2 - 25
3 - 15
4 - 11
5 - 32
6 - 27
7 - 2
8 - 4
9 - 23
10 - 26
11 - 28
12 - 30
13 - 37
14 - 35
15 - 20
16 - 10
17 - 3
18 - 14
19 - 17
20 - 18
21 - 38
22 - 9
23 - 22
24 - 5
25 - 29
26 - 7
27 - 1
28 - 13
29 - 34
30 - 36
31 - 21
32 - 16
33 - 30
34 - 33
35 - 19
36 - 12
37 - 24
38 - 6

Please if you have not done your post, let me know when you do. I had a hard time this year as some of you were in multiple swaps, and I hope I got the right post linked in to the original list! Forgive me if I made a mistake, if you let me know, I will fix that!

Have a very Happy New Year!! I hope 2014 is the best it can be for each of you! And, once again, thank you all for participating this year...I hope you experienced a little Christmas cheer along the way!