In case you haven't noticed, I've read a lot of NetGalleys lately. NetGalleys come in two different formats. Those I download to my Kindle are in black and white, and I get to keep them forever (but rarely do, I know I won't read them again so why bother?). Those I download to my computer are in color (if the print version is) but they expire after a certain amount of time. I'm happy with the arrangement, except for cookbooks. For one thing, many cookbooks don't offer the Kindle version so if I want to keep recipes, I have to go through a work-around. Even for those that do, the effect just isn't as nice as a book. However, I have decided that if I review cookbooks I can download to my Kindle, I will make at least one recipe, photograph it (and my assistant cook) and give the book an "extra" post. Those cookbook I only get to review for a short while will get a short "here is what I saw" type of review.

Debbie Macomber's Christmas Cookbook: Favorite Recipes and Holiday Traditions from My Home to Yours is a beautiful cookbook filled with delicious-sounding recipes as well as craft ideas. Interspersed are holiday anecdotes from Macomber's family. While there are not photos of every recipe, there are beautiful color photos of a lot of them. I miss a lot of the effect with my Kindle, yet I can't bring the computer into the kitchen to use when cooking (well I guess I could bring the laptop, but my cookbooks always end up with stuff on them and computers are expensive). It is books like this that make me long for "the good old days" of real review copies. It includes breakfast foods, appetizers, Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner, Christmas desserts, baking with Grandma, family dinners and Christmas gifts.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley (even though I would have rather had a real review copy). Grade: B+ Stay tuned for another post with a recipe for German Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

See this review and others on my Christmas in September link-up. Come over and link up your reviews of Christmas-themed books.

Note: When I made the cookies, I discovered at least two errors in that recipe. I emailed the publisher who said that they would be corrected in the next printing.