Just in time for Christmas...

... a very well-travelled package has arrived here from my Secret Pal for Secret Pal 9. According to one of the notes enclosed in the package, this is the package which was originally mailed to me in early November, eventually returned to my Pal because apparently my postcode wasn't recognized at some point in its travels as a valid Australian postcode (Huh???), and then re-mailed to me in the hope that it would reach me before Christmas -- which it has! :)

So what did my Pal choose for me? I was dying to know, so I rushed to unwrap my package.

Well...

When I opened the wrapping around the package, I initially found this...


A box of Canadian breakfast cereal. Yummy!

I quickly opened the box -- I hadn't had breakfast yet, after all ;) -- and found something even better than cereal hiding inside...


By the time I had this all out on the table, there had been so much shrieking with joy, I can tell you!

Firstly, there is one of the most amazingly cute 'Totoro' plush toys I've ever seen...


... which is now sitting in pride of place in my room in a location where I can always see it, hopefully keeping it safe from possible abductions by other unnamed people who live here who are also very aware of its cuteness. ;)

Then there is my very own sock monkey, and some ice blue bamboo yarn...


As you can see from the accompanying note...


... the sock monkey was made especially for me by my talented Secret Pal. I especially love the way the cherries are all so perfectly centred on the monkey's limbs, and the way the white areas of the original socks work so well to give my monkey loads of character. Thank you for making this for me! :)

And not only is the bamboo yarn every bit as soft as my Pal says in her note, but the ice blue shade she chose for me is definitely one of my favourite colours. I can hardly wait to finish some of my current projects now so I can have a play with this yarn and find out what it wants to be.

And my next surprise was...


... some knitting note cards of my very own. My Pal has obviously been reading my blog very closely to know how I had been searching for these everywhere without success. :)

And finally, here is the message my Pal wrote to me on the back of the Christmas card...


Thank you, Secret Pal! You've really spoiled me with this package, and I can hardly wait to see the surprises that await me in the other two packages you have sent me. :)