Windows 95, anyone?
Secret Santa gift exchanges can be quite the gamble. Even more so for folks who partake in online exchanges like the one on Reddit, where participants across the globe are matched up at random and have nothing but a gift questionnaire and the user's post history to go off of. While some Reddit users find themselves bewildered after receiving a package of basic-ass pens, a poem scribbled on a Walgreens receipt, or, as one user claimed, a used Sonic gift card, one metro Detroit woman won the Secret Santa lottery when she was unknowingly matched with Bill friggin' Gates. Yes, that Bill Gates.
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
The Reddit user, Szor, received an 81-pound box on Dec. 17, that, according to her post, did not fit in her Mustang. The box, marked with #95 on the sides to commemorate her 95th RedditGift exchange, contained a trove of gifts from the Microsoft founder and multibillionaire whose user name is thisisbillgates.
“Bill Gates, you are a blessing. This year has been a complete roller coaster of emotions for me; in March, I lost my mother completely unexpectedly only 10 days before my destination wedding...” she wrote, adding that Gates' donation to the American Heart Association in her mother's memory was “the most special gift of all.”
Upon opening, the massive box was lit with a strand of fairy lights and contained such high-quality gift boxes and wrapping that she chose to save some for around the house organization and for next year's gift exchange.
To Szor's surprise, Gates' gifts catered closely to her many fandoms and interests. Gifts included a slew of Harry Potter-themed items, including a macroscale Hogwarts Lego set, an “extremely fancy manuscript copy” of The Great Gatsby inscribed by Gates, cat toys, games, a hammock, Oreos, candy, a collection of hardcover books, and a Zelda quilt, as well as a nice haul of Twin Peaks memorabilia, including an embroidered L.L. Bean jacket worn by crew members during the second season of the show.
The RedditGift exchange launched in 2009 and has since matched more than 900,000 people in more than 225 countries, including Gates, who became a participant in the Secret Santa program in 2013.
Watch Szor's reaction video below.
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