A small appliance was a favorite gift.

Yes, I said that. Out loud, and here in print.
My favorite Christmas gift was a small appliance.

But please, please, please don't tell my Sweetie!
Sweetie and I have an agreement, well a promise...
we promised each other long, long ago
that we wouldn't gift each other with appliances, large or small.

Do you have the same promise with someone about gifts disallowed?
And do you have a recent favorite gift item from a so-called disallowed list? 

So, back to the small appliance...
at Christmas time,
a friend - J, brought some gifts for me -
way too many gifts (!) :

some great texty fabrics, pins, 

and a fun, quilty mug among other things,

and I loved them all to pieces.

J also had another gift for me, tagged 'From Santa',
supposedly that was left at her house...
though I found it curious 
that it was wrapped in the same gift paper as her gifts.

I love all of my gifts, but my favorite may just be the one
that was marked 'From Santa',
shown here:

Yes, a small appliance!, it's a casserole sized slow-cooker.
It even has it's own cord corral:

Also in that last pic is the the fun, quilty mug gift, 
now continually filled with my hot tea.

I had mentioned to J (in the summertime) after my paternal family reunion, that a second cousin had this great smaller-sized slow-cooker and if she saw one when she was out shopping to please let me know, as I think I'd like to have one now that the usual family meal size has decreased.  I never found one myself, and I sure didn't tell Sweetie that I was looking for a small appliance!  

So it was such a great surprise to receive the exact item I'd described, and so very kind that J remembered my comment from 6 months ago.  Isn't that a wonderful friend?

Both the slow-cooker and the mug have been used many times in the last handful of weeks, thanks to J!!!

In fact, right now the slow-cooker is filled with a
Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cake
(which is a recipe that I made up from a few different recipes I found on Pinterest).

Anyway, please don't tell my Sweetie 
that my favorite gift may just have been a small appliance.
I don't want to start that trend. :)