RedditA cow.
That's what billionaire Bill Gates gifts his Secret Santa, as one Reddit user discovered this year. Rachel (aka "NY1227") was shocked when she discovered the Microsoft founder had received her name in Reddit's annual random gift exchange.
"I thought Bill sounded like a friendly fellow," Rachel recalls in a posts titled, "Spoiler alert: Bill Gates did not get you, because he got me."
She continued, "In fact, I had this whole image of this poor guy named Bill trying to navigate my wishlist full of makeup, nailpolish, glittery things to buy me. Quite frankly I felt bad for this ‘Bill' since I'm a self identified pain in the ass to shop for."
Rachel received a travel book called Journeys of a Lifetime, a stuffed cow ("I didn't know I gave off the stuffed animal vibe, but I excitedly added him to my collection") and a donation to the nonprofit Heifer International on her behalf.
It wasn't until she opened the envelope that she realized who had really giver her the gift:
"I opened this and it's a man holding a sign," she explains. "Oh.... wait. holy s--t. time out. and then it finally hit me. All the presents I just tore open, the charity, then everything was from Bill GATES."
She says her "jaw hit the EVER LOVING FLOOR."
The card read:
To Rachel,
My Secret Santa present to you is a cow!
Don't worry - you will not have to build a barn. This cow will be given to a family in need, in your name, through Heifer International. It will provide them with income and dairy products, and it will help them help themselves.
Happy Holidays,
Bill Gates
The card is printed, with certain phrases underlined. Like how your grandma does it.
"By the way, in case anyone was being nosy it does not say how much he donated to my behalf, but I can only imagine it was QUITE a bit," Rachel teases. We're guessing it was however much one cow costs.
Rachel goes on to say how "amazing and thoughtful" Bill's gift is, gushing, "I want to [give] a HUGE THANK YOU to Mr. Bill Gates for an amazing gift and secret santa experience. Bill- you ROCK (can I call you Bill?! I feel like we're friends now!)."
"Nailed it, Bill!" she concludes, before adding, "ps: Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward."