The Perfect Gift

My husband's birthday was this past weekend. He is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for.
He doesn't really need anything, and the things he WANTS, he just buys for himself.
 So I have a hard time.
 But this year, I managed to surprise him with something I KNEW he would like!
This t-shirt from Disneyland, with the Disneyland Railroad on the front:

I had been lamenting the fact that you are really hard-pressed to find much of anything at Disneyland that features the Railroad (pins, anything) so when I saw on Facebook that they were coming out with this shirt, I jumped on it!
It was not available when I was there back in November.
 I pre-ordered it and waited, knowing it would arrive in plenty of time for his birthday.
Yes, he loved it.
Of course, his birthday celebration always includes his favorite meal, and this year was no exception - homemade Chicken Cordon Bleu:

 I can't seem to make them smaller; neither of us even finished it. That's all right - we love leftovers in this house!

 This year, rather than his fave German Chocolate Cake, he asked me to make German Chocolate Brownies again, like I did last year.
The easy brownie recipe is from this book:

 And then I just make the Coconut Pecan Frosting for the top...

It seems appropriate that I should bake and store them in this vintage aluminum baking pan that has been here in the house he grew up in for probably 50 years or more:

They made for a pretty yummy birthday dessert!