I started Secret Santa in 1998. I thought it would be a neat idea, because not everyone has someone to buy them Dawn at Holiday time. Or, even if they did have someone to buy Dawn, most people wouldn't have known what to get or where to get it. There wasn't any Checkerboard Toys at that time, so finding Dawn wasn't as easy as it is now. Secret Santa was created reminiscent of " the good old days" of childhood, remembering the magical moments opening up Dawn packages under the Christmas tree. It was created to offer anyone who participated the opportunity to receive a Dawn gift� at Christmas time. It also gave members of the Dawn community a way to get to know one another a little better and make new friends. When I first created Secret Santa, it was posted to the News Group. I collected the wish lists of people wishing to participate and I paired people up, one Santa and one Recipient. All Santa's were drawn at random. The Santa's receive the wish list of the person they were going to be Secret Santa for, and the fun began. The Santa used the wish list they received as a guideline and they sent an item or items off of the wish list to the recipient. All of this is done secretly of course. On Christmas day the gifts are opened and everyone posted what they received to the News Group.
The first year I started Secret Santa there were 12 participants. The News Group was new at that time, and there were not very many members. Actually, the first year was the hardest. I was in my final month of my pregnancy, and I ended up in the hospital and had a C section which was unexpected. My husband and my Elf had to handle a huge Secret Santa problem that came up via email after one of the participants dropped out at the last minute. They ended up finding a very generous Dawnette who was already participating, and she offered to send 2 gifts.
The Second year the Secret Santa project grew. We had 22 people participate. As the News Group grew, so did Secret Santa. New friendships were formed and lots of generous Secret Santa Dawn gifts were exchanged. Every year Secret Santa has grown, and will continue to grow in the future. I hope the memories and friendships Secret Santa has created will live on in the hearts of the generous Dawnettes who have particpated, for years to come.
~Santa Andrea
