christmas wishes from the west coast!

Tracy from the Printable Pony has hosted an equestrian blogger gift exchange for years and years now, and it's just straight up wonderful! Legitimately one of my first orders of business upon firing up my own little blogger machine was to sign up and participate in that year's exchange!

eeeeee i love christmas surprises!!!

Each year when I learn who my own giftee will be, I spend all sorts of time creepin and crawlin their blogs, trying to figure out what direction to go in for gifts. It's a lot of fun, tbh.

And of course, it's also been awesome to receive surprise gifts too!! Every year has been different, but always super creative and super inspired. And this year was no exception!!

this package apparently did not have an easy trip across the country...

Karley from All In drew my name this year, and sent an adorable package filled with all manner of fun stuff for me and Charlie to enjoy! The box.... Well. The USPS honestly abused the ever loving shit out of this package. Holy moly. It was banged up.

was still crammed full of goodies tho!!! full disclosure: those peppermint pretzel cookie things are GONE haha

Luckily tho, the package's contents all seemed no worse for the (extensive) wear!! It was actually kinda like opening up a clown car haha, more and more goodies kept falling out!

First up were some snacks that I'm almost (almost) ashamed to admit how quickly they were eaten up haha. Peppermint pretzels for me and candy canes for Chuck, yum!

kensington mesh bath tote with fun products and sponges!

Then a cute kensington mesh bath tote (in navy, natch!) with Show Sheen gel detangler and Ultra Shield bug repellent gel, a squishy rubber curry, a big body sponge (christened with some nice lotion by Karley's daughter haha) and a smaller bath sponge that's pre loaded with shampoo.

charlie approves <3

I like that the tote has so many pockets and straps to hold products in place, and like that it's mesh so it won't hold water and will dry quickly. Perfect for bath time!

judgey barn cat surreptitiously creepin from that random cat-sized hole in the wall also approves

The products too are pretty exciting! Like, even the big body sponge: the one that lives in my trailer has finally sorta bit the dust, so the timing for that is perfect haha. The bug repellent will have to wait for testing until next spring when all the biting flies come back to life, but the mane detangler was put immediately to good use!

bc god save you if you don't get that all-important cat stamp of approval!

With all the rain and mud lately, Charlie's honestly started to look a little homeless. Like, at least being blanketed means most of his body stays mostly ok.... But his mane and tail are straight up wild. And there's just.... so much of both of them! The way this horse grows hair is unreal ugh.

just ignore the dried mud haha and enjoy the neat and tidy mane!

In an ideal world, the mane would be pulled and a bit more tidy, and the tail freshly banged, in advance of the clinic this weekend. But.... Oh well haha. At least with the detangler the mane looks semi presentable! And we'll just have to hope for the best with everything else!

Thanks so much Karley for this thoughtful gift! And thanks Tracy for hosting every year and coordinating all the details!

And to my own secret gift recipient: Your gift is in the mail, so keep an eye out for a box from Baltimore ;)