Wonderful People, Wonderful Presents

   I have the most amazing family and friends.  Seriously.  This Christmas was wonderful.  My husband and I began our holiday trek Friday morning, stopping in Morgantown to get all weather floor mats for my brand new Subaru.  We then stopped and had lunch at one of my favorite "big salad" places, Texas Roadhouse.  From there we went to Barnes and Noble and Starbucks.  Finally we made it to the Embassy Suites in Pittsburgh where we would be spending the night.  The Embassy Suites rock-they had an awesome managers reception with drinks, chips, veggie platters, and a cheese tray in the evening.  We ended Christmas Eve at the candlelight service at my hometown church with my mom, dad, and brother.

   Christmas morning started off with a wonderful cooked to order breakfast at the hotel.  We then packed it up and went to my parents to open gifts.  Afterwards I helped my mom cook dinner and my entire extended family came over for dinner, desserts, and presents.  My Christmas Stollen Wreath was a huge hit!

   I'd like to take a few minutes to thank my friends and family for making my Christmas so wonderful.  In addition to spending time with my family, friends, and husband, I received some awesome books and new cooking gear!  Since those are the that pertain to my blog, I thought I'd share them with you:-)

  From my Nest Book Club secret Santa I received 3 new books:

-Mum's the Word by Kate Collins

-Murder Past Due by Miranda James

-Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy

From my parents I received an e-reader!  I'm very excited to try it.  It's the Literati which is powered by Kobo.

I also received a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

On the cooking side this year I received a TON of cookbooks!  I am so excited to get cooking from them.

-Cooking Light The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook

-Williams-Sonoma Cookbook

-Alton Brown cookbook

-Baking by Dorie Greenspan

-What's Cooking? Baking

I've been dying for some new recipe holders as well.  They are very difficult to find because many people save their recipes online now.  I have 3 places online I save them, but really, it's so much easier to cook from a hard copy.  My parents found wooden boxes and my dad stained them to make 2 beautiful recipe boxes. My husband ended up finding a really cool looking red recipe box from Martha Stewart.

Finally, I did receive a few kitchen gadgets.  My husband got me a micro plane and a zester.  My cousin gave me a brownie pop pan.

Thank you to all the wonderful people in my life who made this a wonderful Christmas.  I can't wait to read my new books, make some new recipes, and use my new gadgets.  Thank you!