Good evening all – and big apologies for my delay in posting. I said I would come back with a figure today, but it has all taken a bit longer than I thought it would. Frankly, I underestimated the time it took to get all the items organised, packaged and on their way to their new owners. I had a total of 52 packages to assemble – and the admin that goes before and after that, including printing the packing slips, and sending out notifications via the two platforms to finalise the transactions. Part of the problem is that a sales and auction event can not really be prepared much beforehand: Since individual buyers may purchase more than one item, it is only once the transactions have been processed that items can be assembled and then packed in appropriate boxes. So I literally spent two full days getting everything ready for the post. This was my final pile:

I lugged the parcels to the post office this afternoon and sent them on their way, in time for the Christmas deadline. I purchased stamps for the letter packages, stuck the stamps on the items at home, and then posted the letters in the postbox opposite my house – just in time for the post collection at 4.30pm. The postman drew up just as I had dropped the last of my 36 letters in the postbox. For the fun of it, I took a one -minute video of the postman emptying the postbox (and dropping some letters on the ground *meh*) from back inside my house.

So, the good news are:

All items from the auctions and the fixed-price sale have been posted!

You should all now have received a notification either from Etsy or from eBay that your purchased items are on their way to you. Please check your inbox – or let me know if you haven’t received notification. I have checked and cross-checked, but you never know…

A big massive thank you to all participants who have bid on auction items, won auction items, purchased items from the charity sale, and who have followed and commented and tweeted the event. You all rock more than El Capitan! Considering that we have already had a major fundraising event with the customary birthday fundraiser this year, I had not expected the result that is imminent. I can’t give you the final tally just yet because I am still working on the postage costs that have to be deducted from the proceeds. But here is a hint:

Staying with my “threshold” analogy, we passed several more thresholds after my final update of the auctions. I can already say that the fixed-price sale was a massive success that has generated a *huge* sum. So, the final sum will be determined tomorrow, but you can already pat yourselves on the back because we have created a sizeable donation for LOROS – I am pretty sure the final amount will very much astound you. It certainly has astounded me.

So, that’s it for now – proper tally and accounts, as well as detailed thank yous tomorrow. Sonja over and out 😵