In a world permeated by social media and mobile communication, it seems impossible to ignore the persistent thoughts inside your own head long enough to really focus on a concept like gift giving — a single act of generosity tailored to a specific person for the sole purpose of making them ridiculously, tear-inducingly happy.

I’d like to believe most people would enjoy being able to come up with a gift of that caliber on an annual basis for every single person in their lives. Realistically, only those closest to you will be afforded thoughtful presents while the bulk of others will get something for the sake of giving them something. Giving a thoughtful gift to someone you don’t know very well can prove to be a difficult task.

That is, unless you are one of the more than 17,000 Reddit users in 90 different countries who participated in the site’s second Secret Santa gift exchange, which generated over $600,000 (and counting) in purchases and set a new world record, according to a post by Hueypriest on the Reddit blog.

I participated in the exchange since I’m a fairly regular visitor to Reddit, the social news sharing website powered by its users who determine the top content. And since each user only contributes what’s interesting or important to them, looking at a Redditor’s profile gives a strong sense of who they are and what they like. This translates to a ridiculously awesome way to do Secret Santa and also, that geeks are generally a very thoughtful bunch.

For instance, based on my own description and Reddit profile, my awesome (not-so) Secret Santa Sarah sent me graphic novels Kabuki by David Mack and Tin Tin: Destination Moon — both of which I’ve not read but always wanted to. It was extremely thoughtful, but not nearly as much as the comic book she wrote and illustrated *specifically* for me.

The comic is titled Bastards and Zombies and Outer Space and I didn’t want to keep it all to myself. Check out the first few pages in the thumbnails embedded below. Also, make sure to peruse the Reddit Gift Gallery for an extensive round up of geeky presents.

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