Post-Holiday Contentedness & the Rebel . . .

So, did you survive the big day? I hope so. It's wonderful and all, but I'm kind of glad it's behind us. Not in a bad way or anything, but it's nice to have a few days to relax post-Christmas, don't you think? No fancy meals to worry about preparing, no more packages to wrap, no need to fret about getting all of those special tasks completed in a pressure cooker time-frame. In the holiday's immediate wake, I love having the opportunity to spend some extra time with my husband and kids, as we each wallow contentedly in the thoughtful and fun gifts we've received, with no imperative to rush about.

I must say I was fortunate to be the recipient of some fabulous cookbooks this year. The one that I'd hoped Santa would bestow upon me most of all was Rose Levy Beranbaum's newest tome Rose's Heavenly Cakes; now that's a beautiful cookbook. She must have sold about a million copies of that baby in the last month alone, don't you think? Another one I'd been yearning for was The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco (also new this year and jam packed with luscious-looking possibilities), and last but not least The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, a book that seems to be legitimately de rigeur these days if you're interested in making sensational ice creams and sorbets from scratch.

Probably the most exciting item (for me at least!) that made its way into our household a couple of days before Christmas was a new camera, a DSLR from the Canon Rebel series. Not a present to ourselves exactly, but something that we'd wanted for a while but couldn't justify purchasing until we found it at an unbelievably discounted price. I'm just getting acquainted with the Rebel (I love having a camera that doesn't have a namby-pamby name) and there's a lot to absorb.

I readily admit that I know very little about "real" photography, and I've stumbled along as best I can trying to take pictures that are worth looking at. I'd wager that at least ninety-five percent of the digital photos I've taken since I started this blog were not worth saving let alone putting into a post. Do you suppose it's like that for most amateurs who take pictures regularly? I don't know, but I'm hopeful, in any case, that that percentage will begin to change as I eventually figure out how to take full advantage of this camera's more advanced features. We shall see.

The few photos you see in this post were taken today with my new friend, the Rebel.

Will bake again soon. Talk to you later!

P.S. See the squirrel ornament above? Yeah, that's a squirrel. Can't see his fluffy little tail in this shot. He's very small and he's my husband's favorite ornament. Funny! (The cupcake ornament below is one of my many favorites. I'm a complete sucker for ornaments shaped like baked goods.)


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