My dad got me this awesome handheld blender. 
My mother gave me handmade pure vanilla extract. 
Cooking is in my blood. For as long as I can remember I have been cooking with my Granny, my mom, my sister, & for my family. When my Granny passed away in 2009, I didn’t have any of her recipes written down. Unfortunately, I always thought I would have time later. This Christmas my sister & dad collected all of Granny’s recipes & put them into a cookbook for me. I cried & laughed when I opened this gift. These recipes are so precious to me, so you will be seeing many posts later of me working to get these dishes to taste just like Granny did.
Opening the gift....I had no idea what awesome gift was in-store for me.
Crying.
Granny's original recipes.
My aunt Karen gave Kellyn & me many of Granny’s Christmas decorations, which are also a special treasure to me. I carried them in my carry-on & had them in my lap the entire flight back to Houston.
Opening our baskets of decorations.
Me crying, yet again. I had a lot of happy tears this Christmas.
As soon as I got home, I decorated with Granny's decorations....even if Christmas had already passed. This is the ornament I opened in the previous picture.
I got a set of these old mercury Christmas ball ornaments that Granny had.
Granny's angel & Christmas mice. 
My dad gave Phil a Troy Polamalu Christmas ornament. As soon as we got home Phil put it on the tree next to a cardinal ornament & said, “This is Troy...crushing the cardinal, just like he did in the last super bowl!” HAHA 
While we are really enjoying our gifts & are truly grateful, the best gift of all was the time that we got to spend with family celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas indeed!
While we are really enjoying our gifts & are truly grateful, the best gift of all was the time that we got to spend with family celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas indeed!
