BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Secret Santa 2018?

**Posted by Schmiezi** December 20, 2018 6:12 pm

Yay, my fic is ready. I will send it to you tonight. :-)

**Posted by Yitzock** December 22, 2018 2:58 pm

I have officially received all the stories, woohoo! Thank you everyone for making this happen!
I've held off reading them, myself, so I'm looking forward to the big reveal along with all of you.
I think I will post the first story tomorrow (Sunday, December 23), and then post one a day. I believe that means I will finish posting on December 28th.
Like I may have mentioned before, I'm in the Eastern Time Zone, which is 5-6 hours behind most of you, so my morning is your afternoon and my afternoon is your evening. I will do my best to post each story as early in the day as I can and I will do my best not to miss days, but if I do that just means we'll have more to read later!

**Posted by SusiGo** December 22, 2018 7:11 pm

This is good news, thank you again for organising this.

**Posted by Kerkerian** December 23, 2018 11:30 am

I'm really thrilled that this is happening! Thank you again for organizing it!

**Posted by Yitzock** December 23, 2018 2:31 pm

It's my pleasure.

And now for my first comment:

The Most Romantic Offer
I wasn't sure how this was all going to resolve in this tense situation with such hurtful and biting dialogue.
I know it wasn't your intention, mystery author, but my asexual heart loved that the first things Sherlock said he had to offer John in a relationship with fun, good food, and music. Those go well with my priorities! That was just my own personal amusement with that part of the story.

Last edited by Yitzock (December 23, 2018 4:15 pm)

**Posted by SusiGo** December 24, 2018 2:13 pm

Low Tide at Sea Garden

Woah, what a lovely mixture of romance, seriousness and a hilarious mollusc moment! And kudos to the mystery author for skillfully integrating the Eurus visit (who, I am quite sure, only exits in Sherlock's mind, but this is a story for another time). And there is poetry as well, all in about 1,000 words. It was a pleasure reading your fic.

Last edited by SusiGo (December 24, 2018 2:14 pm)

**Posted by Yitzock** December 25, 2018 2:29 am

Low Tide
You definitely did your research for this story. I was initially puzzled by the French quote, thinking the spelling was wrong, but finding out it was an old version of the language the different spelling made sense. I want to read more about your inspiration for those aspects of the story.

**Posted by nakahara** December 25, 2018 1:21 pm

The Most Romantic Offer

Dear unknown author, this was such a nice, warmhearted and skillfully constructed story! It is amazing how easily you managed to introduce the conflict between John and Sherlock, give the same conflict a comforting solution and wonderfully hint at romance in a space of merely 1000 words. Kudos to you for a smooth, pleasant, seamless storytelling skill.

Equally to Yitzock, I found Sherlock´s offer for companionship (and maybe more) deeply moving, but funny as well. Sherlock was very in character here with his abrupt behaviour masking deep insecurity, IMHO. Absolutely loved it! And thank you for the Angelo bit at the end - this is what I call the proper ending for a Johnlock tale! It brings back such beautiful memories....

**Posted by Kerkerian** December 25, 2018 1:43 pm

The Most Romantic Offer

Oh Sherlock, you Silly Old Bear! It's so in character for him to express his true feelings in such a roundabout way, a little clumsy at that and endearingly true to his insecure self! I was as perplexed as John at his harsh words at first, but in hindsight, they just emphasize how deeply he feels for John...

Low Tide at Sea Garden

This was almost heartbreaking in the sense of how, despite being able to move on with their lives, Sherlock and John have been shaken by certain events in their past. And now they're on their way to overcome those remnants. I loved John's momentary sneakiness, by the way.

**Posted by Schmiezi** December 25, 2018 2:58 pm

Low Tide at Sea Garden

Dear unknown author,

I know that my prompt was not that easy to fulfill with only 1,000 words. Yet, you made it. Thank you so much for the wonderful story. I had to look up the quote. What an interesting line!

You protrayed the post-S4 boys spot on and finally gave them happiness.

I also love your writing style. You created such a great atmosphere with your words. Kudos for that.

Thank you very much for such a lovely Christmas present!

**Posted by Kerkerian** December 26, 2018 2:22 pm

The Case of the Christmas Sock Heist

Dear Secret Santa,
thank you so much for this perfect gift! I love the story and how you incorporated my prompts!
Using the sock index is simply brilliant, and apart from that: John, Sherlock and Mrs Hudson at home in 221B, John being sneaky with Mrs Hudson being his unwavering ally, Sherlock being Sherlock about his own gift for John... all of this is what I adore about them. And Mycroft "bullying" Lestrade into a kind of date just made me laugh!

Thank you again for this lovely little story!

**Posted by gently69** December 27, 2018 7:28 am

The Most Romantic Offer

Dear unknown author,
thank you very very much. I really love that lovely little story. It totally works for me because I can see Sherlock and John acting like this in my mind's eye. Sherlock's closest kind of emotion and John's way to react, yeah, I can imagine that.
I am really satisfied with how you realised my prompts. Once again thanks a lot to whoever had invented it.

P.S.: My comments to the other stories will follow a bit later. I promise.

**Posted by SusiGo** December 27, 2018 9:47 am

The Case of the Christmas Sock Heist

Oh, what a lovely idea to have John not only buying new socks for Sherlock but carefully integrating them into the index as well. Great job, John! And can I please see Sherlock wearing the bright green ones? John is learning from Sherlock and not only how to index socks. His sneaky plan worked quite well. Plus, a nice nod to Mystrade as well.
Thank you, unknown author, for writing this little Christmassy gem.

**Posted by Schmiezi** December 27, 2018 1:12 pm

The Most Romantic Offer

Dear unknown author,
reading your lovely fic feels like being back in the good old days of Johnlock before Mary. Their dialogue is perfectly in character and the ending is sweet.

**Posted by Yitzock** December 27, 2018 3:55 pm

Sorry for being a bit late posting today's story. I slept in this morning and then got to a slow start because I was up late last night.

**Posted by SusiGo** December 27, 2018 6:38 pm

Some kind of ‘Christmas Carol’

Oh, what a nice idea to set a story in the Harrods toy department. A culprit turning out to be not the actual culprit, John being Sherlock's moral compass, and even a real "ghostly" ending. I loved reading this story, dear unknown author.

P.S. Can I have a pic of Sherlock's face when unwrapping the Sherlock bear?

**Posted by nakahara** December 28, 2018 12:36 am

Some kind of Christmas Carol

LOL, unknown author, thank you for such a pleasant and funny Christmas gift! Your story nicely fulfilled my request and amused me as well.

I loved how you pulled us right into the action at Harrods (very good setting by the way!) and continued with such a lighthearted banter between John and Sherlock. It brought out their camaraderie in a way that I relished with gusto. The „ghost“ mystery was a neat idea – and it´s amazing that we had a surprising twist after a „solution“ of it near the end of a story.

And the best for last – that line of Sherlock bears at the end was as creeepy as it was hilarious. (I just hope they didn´t eat John in the next second, hehehe). The living proof that the good author can stimulate the fantasy of its readers even with the last word of his tale. Hats off for that!

**Posted by gently69** December 28, 2018 10:50 am

Low Tide at Sea Garden

I really like it though I didn't understand the French sentences at all. LOL
Nevertheless wonderfully written piece of Johnlock. Well done, dear unknown author.

The Case of the Christmas Sock Heist

Hee hee, that was fun. That conspiracy between John and Mrs Hudson I can imagine so lively. And Sherlock is Sherlock.
Dear unknown author, you did a really good job.

Last edited by gently69 (December 28, 2018 11:06 am)

**Posted by Yitzock** December 28, 2018 3:22 pm

Turning Point
I'm not a big Johnlocker, but I thought this was sweet. I really liked the bits that took place in Sherlock's mind, the twist that he hadn't in fact said anything aloud at all. And the line "they didn't need any more words" was nice.

**Posted by nakahara** December 28, 2018 3:30 pm

The Case of the Christmas Sock Heist

Who would have thought socks are such a lovely theme for a Christmas Sherlock story?

I quite enjoyed John´s and Mrs. Hudson´s conspiracy, Sherlock´s searching for his missing socks (how like him to notice the absence right away!) and the actual gift exchange was actually quite moving. Very thoughtful of Sherlock to give the magnifying lens to John – the sign that he considers John his equal. And the socks already indexed signified that John understands Sherlock´s taste perfectly now. So sweet!

And the last happy Christmas wish was the cherry on top of this soothing story that brought the real Christmas athmosphere into this Secret Santa Exchange.