Christmas Presents...Anyone want dragon soup?

Christmas is over and the new year begun, but we are still enjoying the last of our Christmas break.  I am so thankful for the wonderful holiday that we had.  My son in particular got one present he has been asking for for months. He was so excited to get his bakugan dragonoid colosses...at first he was completely astonished.

 His face is beginning to morph into an expression of total joy, but in this shot he looks kind of silly. 

This is what a dragonoid colossus looks like when it is all put together.  Somehow my son knew just how to put this thing together, even without reading the directions (which were in another language anyways).  It only took a couple of minutes, and he had it ready to show off.  

 I did really well too.  Last Christmas, we didn't do presents for each other, only a few things for the kids, because we were putting all our money towards our new house.  This year, we did grown-up gifts.  I asked for mainly cooking things, since that is something I can play with in the winter time.  My guy did really well, I was very happy to see my new cooking toys.  This is my new pizza stone...I've heard great things about those.

Of course I got a pizza peel to go with it, so I can get the pizza stone out of the oven without burning the heck out of myself.  

I've already used this, my new over-the-sink strainer.  I scrubbed potatoes in it this morning before our New Year's Day dinner.  It is really convenient to get to the colander up above the water when I am cleaning things...this will be a real help when canning. 

I have wanted a cookbook stand forever...I also used this today, while whipping things up for dinner.  I love the antiquey look it has. 

This is a butter bell.  It is a lovely little crock that keeps the butter soft inside, but submerged in water so it is protected from the air.  I am going to put some fresh butter in it this week after I thaw some out. 

Speaking of canning help, this giant stock pot will allow me to water bath can several quart jars at once.  At this very moment, it is full of a turkey carcass and  lots of yummy turkey stock. 

Santa brought me a meat cleaver!  At first Santa said he wouldn't bring me one, even though I really wanted one, because he didn't know if he trusted me with sharp knives.  But he must have relented because here is my meat cleaver.  I accidentally learned the power of this knife.  I thought I was being careful taking it out of the packaging, but I grazed the tip of my thumb with the corner of the cleaver and peeled my thumb like a grape.  I got a little scared, but I guess it taught me about treating this knife with respect. 

I know it seems like we spend a lot of money on Christmas, but we really don't.  We look for deals and we are very good sale shoppers, so we get a lot of bang for our buck.  So now I have a soup pot and a dragonoid colossus....dragon soup anyone?

What neat toys did you get for Christmas?