I felt that the messages to Pam were going great. But, there were two little ones in her house who needed something from Santa too. The letter that Pam's kids received from Santa Claus was delegated to a children's author. My sister [edited: new Nestie MrsCaptKidd] wrote that gem of a letter! She really only knew your children's names and ages, and I gave her carte blanche to create the perfect letter to start off December for your kiddos. My brother-in-law was the one who got to sign as S.C. though, since my sister's handwriting looks too much like mine, and we didn't want to possibly give it away. The Connecticut drop-off was done by my BIL's boss (see, I really did rope in everyone) on Thanksgiving! ![]()
After a couple of days, with the list growing and growing, I reached out to my first Nestie for a little additional help. I wanted to ask Dan a few questions and maybe get some insights about Pam that nobody on the Nest should know... But, I wanted to keep my identity a secret, even from him. So, I asked Patty [TheNewMrsPAC] if she wouldn't mind forwarding a message on to Dan for me. He had a hard time answering my first questionnaire, but did give me a couple of gems that I was able to use.
A week later, Pam sent an email to Patty (my one Nestie accomplice at that point) giving her prediction for who SSSK was. And, sure enough that was me. Special Agent Patty did a great job of keeping me in the loop, and forwarded me that email instantaneously! At that point, I knew I had to do things a little differently, and contacted a few Nesties to send letters or images of their choosing to dearest Pam. Again, it's a busy time, and not everyone was able to get their messages in the mail. But, because these accomplices know Pam, I was able to let them have free reign with the messages. If I could incorporate private jokes that I shouldn't know about, then that would be even better! Michele [micheleNYC] and Joanna [cheekywife] were two Nesties who agreed. I really tried to keep my group of Nesties who knew my secret to a minimum though!!
Dan really seemed to be having fun with this, and he sent a couple more unsolicited messages to me via Patty. Pam, after one of those messages was when you got the non-Christmas card from SSSK. You know the one... and I meant every word!
The night of the Nestie GTG, I had two text messages that were supposed to be sent to Pam, with a donation going to March of Dimes. These were from Santa (one of two text santa sites I found in the US). The following day, an anonymous email was sent to Pam... I didn't see any updates about these on the Nest though, so I asked her another anonymous question via elfster. Unfortunately, she didn't get them. The email I'd sent went into her spam folder, and she clears that out too frequently so she missed that one too. At that point, it was just days before my gift was mailed out by the etsy seller, and I again asked Patty to be my go-between and forward Dan the messages I'd attempted to send Pam. He felt that a personal SSSK email account was called for, so he set up the secretssk email address for me, and I nearly died laughing! Dan was clearly having as much fun with this as I was!
I contacted the etsy seller on Saturday, asking her if she'd sent the gift yet. She replied on Sunday morning, and apologized that she hadn't sent me the tracking number. When I checked, it appeared that the package had been delivered on Saturday at 5:10pm. That's when a volley of private emails between SSSK and pjscooby took place. She did a perimeter check of her house, and could see a mysterious package from Texas in her tenant's front hall, but she didn't have access to it. She called her tenant, and expected to have it in her hands that day.
I had a mini conversation going with my three listed Nestie co-conspirators during that time and we all laughed that she had to be going nuts that she could see her SS gift, but not get it! As if on cue, Pam emailed SSSK again saying that it was killing her to be able to see it and not be able to get it!
My husband laughed when I told him that the gift was mis-delivered to her tenant, and that she still hadn't gotten it by suppertime last night. He thought that perhaps Dan had something to do with that, and theorized that Dan had told the tenant to hold off on bringing it up to them until after they'd be in bed so as to mess with Pam just a little bit more. The postman's error could not have fit into the SSSK theme any better though! It just added an additional twist to the whole darned thing!
I created that little animation for the big reveal, and asked if one of my accomplices could post it to "out" me when Pam did finally have her gift in hand.
And, that's where we now stand.
The whole reason behind my anticipatory letters was to hearken back to grade school secret santas, when you'd get a little note slipped into your desk or locker, and all the excitement there was when you were trying to figure out who was responsible for the little piece of candy, or whatever... Pam does so much on the board, with heading up the cooking club, organizing the Secret Santa exchange, etc., etc., that I just felt I had to do something special this year.
Now, a note to my Secret Santa draw in next year's exchange...
I am sorry, but SSSK was a one-time deal! But, I will try my best to get you a wonderful gift that you'll appreciate and enjoy ![]()

Re: SSSK SHENANIGANS, PART 3 (conclusion)
Dan was your techie elf and go between? Oh that sneaky little devil. He's getting a spanking.
Please tell your sister that letter was fabulous. The kids loved it!
And you know how much I love you already, but I loved you even more after MY letter. It meant so much to me. Then to hear you donated to the March of Dimes melted my heart even more. There were times I could barely collect myself to appropriately respond to you, because you overwhelmed me (in a good way).
Kudos to all who helped Alicia. You guys are too much!! I know I do a lot on the board, but it's because I'm a big old bully. I really don't like any of you...you know that!!??
I KID CUZ I LOVE!!!!!!
Yeah, that sounds like Dan!!
Funny, because not only does he need hubcaps, but not too long ago Pam2 was in town and I thought for sure you must have employed her to drive by my house and report in or something!
I will tell Dan as soon as he gets home to check the account.