Thoughtful gifts. And a fun future project!

My Santa communicated throughout the who exchage, letting me know that they were shipping slightly late. I said this was not an issue as I usually wait until Christmas day to open secret santa gifts.

Inside the package I found 3 items: a beautiful maths tie (I'll be sure to wear it to work in the new year). A cute little ink miser, (super useful as I didn't have one before today). My first thoughts were that it was a little small, but then when I put a nib into it to check size it seemed much more reasonable (not seen one in the flesh before). I'll be sure to give it a test in the next few days and I'll let you know how it goes. I envision a small spill from overflowing if I put too much ink inside. And finally a matchbox, upon opening the matchbox I found a kit with instructions on growing basil in order to make your own ink. This looks to be fun project for the summer, but I will be careful to not use it in my normal fountain pens as the recipes both use gum Arabic (big no no for fountain pen ink as it clogs and gums things up). BUT, I have been given a glass dip pen in another exchage, and another nib for my Hocoro Dip pen, both of which should be more than suitable for using with home made ink. I'm really curious about how it will turn out as I do really like green inks.

I've again, thank you santa for the thoughtful gifts, and I hope you've had a happy Christmas.