For those of you who aren’t Ojeda’s or aren’t familiar with the Ojeda family traditions, here’s a quick outline. A few years back we came to the realisation that while we love giving to all our family members, inflation, exchange rates, credit crises (yes, that’s the plural for crisis), consumerism, rising unemployment statistics (though less pertinent in our family), and other evils of the western civilizations, all make it difficult to give what we feel our family members really deserve. To this end, we devised a simple, yet ingenious method through which we could give thoughtfully and generously without feeling the economic sting the morning after.

Yes, we invented Secret Santa.

OK, so since I’m not allowed to know who is giving generously to me (I SAID GENEROUSLY!!), I’ve been asked to compile a list of desirable goods, services and/or experiences, to be displayed somewhere on the interwebs. So here goes. Yes, this list is for viewing by my Secret Santa, but don’t let this arbitrary title stop you from making a generous donation… Even if you’re not THE Secret Santa, you could still be A Secret Santa ^_^

My wishlist

items I won’t hold my breath for

• A steelstring, acoustic guitar
• A digital SLR Camera, lenses and/or other accessories.
• Skydiving experience
• A Wacom Intuos3 4×6 (or bigger) Graphics Tablet
• A Dell 22″-24″ LCD Monitor
• A Colour Laser printer
• Playstation 3 or Playstation 2

items which are more realistic

• OxFam donation thingies – give my gift to those who actually need stuff. Seriously.
• Anything Coffee-related (except a plunger – I have that already)
  • coffee grinder
  • espresso machine (the sunbeam one rawks!)
  • A nice range of coffee beans
  • A nice range of ground coffee
• Movie Tickets, Concert Tickets, Theatre tickets, etc. All are good stuff.
• Music CDs – Vouchers for JB HiFi are probably the way to go.
• DVDs – Vouchers or actual DVDs.
• Clothes vouchers

And because the parental figures of the family unit are practically living in the stoneage, far-flung from the technological advances of Web2.0, I feel it is my duty to convey their wishlist on their behalf. Be advised that the tightlipped cavedwellers were very reluctant to divulge, so I’m sharing what little information I could glean from them. The rest will have to come from your own investigatory skills.

Samuel’s Wishlist

• Una Campana. As always, the first and only request was for a tinkling toy for his bell collection.

Leah’s Wishlist

• A gift voucher for a local hair salon. I believe Leah wants to have her hair treated, dyed, cut, blow-waved, curled, straightened, perfumed, shampooed, cut, fashioned, tied up with a bow or wrapped in celophane. I’m not sure exactly.

Finally, a note to all Secret Santas, especially mine. Even though we have these lists to help us out, the real fun comes from finding out more about our loved ones, and using that knowledge to give gifts of love. So go forth and become super-sleuths, find out about each other and use that information for good!

-Juan-two-three