Yeah, we often get first-time swappers who don't realize they'll be able to talk directly to their sender, and then I have to explain. Makes sense since Yuletide is a classic "Secret Santa" type deal, and possibly some other similar swaps don't involve direct communication? IDK. I think I did a secret gift exchange once or twice years ago with a small group where everyone knew each other and was comfortable just like...putting all our addresses in a spreadsheet - but that definitely wouldn't work for swaps! :) We don't want to be responsible for hundreds of addresses, LOL. Also, I feel like occasionally people make new friends, especially when repeatedly matched (oops), and that can be really nice!

I don't know that saying, but I like it.

I think a lot of people are mailing closer to home this year! though thankfully not all, or some swappers wouldn't have been able to participate. But those who frequently mail internationally are pretty used to the roll of the dice as to whether they'll get their swaps packages in November, December, or April, I think. Last year I sent a (non-swaps) domestic package to a friend that not only arrived many weeks late but had...been torn open and taped back together with a different package inside???? (Like, a small package inside another small package. I think my friend just threw the inner package back in the mail, bc wtf.) SUPER strange. The contents of my original package were just cookies, so not terrible to lose (they'd have been stale by then anyway), but it was just so bizarre.

Let us hope nothing like that happens to any swappers this year, haha!