Huge thank you to @fourthstartcg for being an incredibly generous and thoughtful Secret Santa! Each year, E4 Secret Santa makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning all over again - this year was no different.
I have to admit that I was pretty particular with my asks this year. One very specific request was for the sender to include a favorite recipe. @fourthstartcg included his Grandma’s Almond Sugar Cookie recipe! (I have included it here for others to try out the recipe as well. @fourthstartcg, please let me know if this is okay to include.)
My better half will be baking these tomorrow morning and we will provide an update; honestly, I can’t wait, as almond extract is one of my favorite flavors. It often tastes and smells like cherry to me, and supposedly this is because both flavors share the chemical compound benzaldehyde. 
One of my favorite Pokemon species is Rowlet 
. I was over the moon to see a beautiful illustration of Rowlet speeding down the hill and getting some air this winter season. I will be framing it very soon. 
Next were two smaller (slab-sized 
) packages and one larger, denser package. I opened the two smaller packages first.
Another specific request that I had this year was for my E4 Secret Santa to help me along my PSA 9 EX Sandstorm Graded Set 
. If you know anything about me, you know that EX Sandstorm and EX Team Rocket Returns 
are two of my favorite sets ever released.
I am nearly completed with my PSA 9 EX TRR Graded Set, so I felt that it would be extra special to begin my EX Sandstorm Graded Set via E4 Secret Santa 2024. Completing this set is one of my main 2025 collection goals. I am so thankful that @fourthstartcg helped me snag two of the holos - Shiftry and Cradily, one of which was illustrated by my favorite artist, Atsuko Nishida. 
I opened the next package, and to my surprise, it was a Japanese Cyber Judge Booster Box! I spent all of 60 seconds before ripping the box open.
I think my luck was pretty incredible! For the Art Rares, I pulled Metagross (one of my favorite Gen 3 Pokemon), and both Deerling and Sawsbuck! What are the odds that the paired arts would be included in the same box? My secret rare was Ciphermaniac’s Codebreaking and my ACE rare was Reboot Pod.
Thank you @fourthstartcg from the bottom of my heart. Your gifts were more than I could have imagined. I am so excited to continue completing my EX Sandstorm Graded Set, knowing that it was kickstarted by E4 Secre Santa 2024.
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year! E4 Secret Santa is my favorite event. Each year, I eagerly await reading about everyone’s gifts and seeing the immense generosity and kindness in this community. I am so thankful to be a small part of it.