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Gifts and glitter galore: Bill Gates played Secret Santa to one Reddit user

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Bill Gates Secret Santa Claus
Aww. Over the weekend, Reddit user Aerrix answered the front door in the early morning to receive a gigantic package shipped to her overnight via FedEx. She pulled it inside, allowed the pets to conduct their sniffing inspection, and then tore it open to pull out tons of bubble wrap. What was underneath all that packaging forced her jaw to drop completely and to immediately call her husband at work. She calmed herself down and spoke very quietly on the phone as to not cause alarm.

She told him Bill Gates was her Secret Santa.

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After calling her husband, Aerrix immediately dialed up her mother and sent her a picture each time a gift was pulled out of the gigantic box. Eventually the room was covered in bubble wrap, shredded wrapping paper, tons of Christmas glitter, and all the presents laid out neatly.

The FedEx box also contained a personal letter from Bill Gates. “I can’t believe your Secret Santa left you hanging last year,” he wrote. “To ensure you don’t lose faith in the Reddit community, I’ve enclosed several gifts that I hope you will enjoy. There are a few video games for you to play, some things to keep you warm, and three of my favorite movies for you to watch over the holidays.”

The first two wrapped presents she tore into were labeled “Aerrix’s Mittens” and “Clarrix’s Mittens,” which turned out to be a pair of Legend of Zelda-themed mittens for Aerrix and a smaller, matching pair for her dog, Clairrix. After that, she unwrapped three pink boxes that contained three Special Edition wireless Xbox One controllers. She was confused for a moment until she spotted a larger pink package and quickly ripped the wrapping away, revealing the Xbox One S Minecraft Edition console.

Gates’ letter also said the Secret Santa package contained a pair of Ravenclaw slippers from Hot Topic. She located those, slipped them on immediately, and only took them off for 30 seconds to take a picture. She continued with her unwrapping feast after that, throwing shredded paper left and right.

Aerrix/Imgur
Aerrix/Imgur

The remaining gifts included a Cajun cookbook (she’s from Southern Louisiana), a Zelda-themed tie blanket, a paper version of the final form of Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and a Zelda-themed picture frame with Zelda and Link made with Perler beads. The frame even contained a picture Gates pulled from her Reddit profile featuring Aerrix, her husband, and her dog. Gates was added to the picture along with Santa hats.

But that is not all. She also received the NES Classic Edition console, Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, a year’s worth of Xbox Live Gold cards, and the three movies Bill Gates mentioned in his letter: The Martian, The End of the Tour, and Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story.

“I’m just blown away by his generosity, which went even further than all these gifts because he submitted a donation to code.org in my name to give more students the chance to learn computer science, which is AWESOME because it’s something near and dear to my heart as my husband is a programmer and my brother has a degree in computer science!” she said.

Gates, who has taken part in many Ask Me Anything sessions on Reddit, began participating in the Reddit Secret Santa program in 2013. For Secret Santa 2016, there are a total of 118,857 individuals participating in the annual event, which began in 2009.

Aerrix’s full unwrapping story and picture gallery are provided on the Reddit Gift portal here.

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