Great news! The ErieBlogs.com Secret Santa returns this year for its 5th go-around!

Here's how it works. When you join Santa's helpers this year, you will be given the name and the wishlist address of another person who has joined the Secret Santa pool. You'll buy that person one thing on their Amazon wishlist (under $15, please!), and have it shipped to them with a note saying who it was that got them this stuff, maybe your email address, blog address, whatever you feel comfortable with*. At the same time you're doing this, some person will be doing the same for you, so you get a present too. What goes around, comes around.

This year, we're adding a twist, one we think will benefit kids in the Erie area. Since we're using Amazon wishlists, all the proceeds from this year's Secret Santa will go to the Parents of Autistic Children group. Not only are we spreading holiday cheer, we're helping some great kids in our own backyard. Thanks to Amazon's affiliate program, we'll embed a tracking link in the Secret Santa email you receive in a few weeks, so there's no action required on your part. Amazon will keep track of sales through our link and pay us after the holidays. When we get it, we'll give that money to Parents of Autistic Children.

All you need is a name, email address, and an Amazon wishlist (don't worry - we're not going to sell your information or email to anyone, no matter what. That goes without saying!). If you don't have a wishlist, go make one, it takes two seconds and its free. Once you're all set up, enter your information in the form on the left, and it will be recorded. On the day after Thanksgiving, you'll get an email from me telling me who you have received and a link to their wishlist.

Please get something ordered by about December 1st, since some of our friends are overseas and in Canada, it may take a little longer to ship to them.

* We enjoy privacy as much as anyone else. To that end, there are settings in Amazon you can configure to control how much information about you is visible when people see your wishlist. If this is a concern to you, please check those settings and set them to your comfort level. We will also not release any information or wishlist URLs you give us to anyone but the person that has been randomly drawn to give you a gift.

So that's about it. if you have any questions!

Thanks for participating!

Mike