YAY! This is a great update for me.
First of all the colour palette of MC has been a bit naff for some time. Yellow wool has been a sort of sick colour. Well they've sorted that out, added patterned glazed terracotta (renamed from hardened clay) blocks and concrete (which acts like sand until it comes into contact with water). Beds can also be coloured now. YAY!
Another addition which I love is the creation of a recipe book. About bloody time. I can remember most of them but this one will show you what you can make from you inventory, which is handy. Saves me alt-tabbing to the wiki all the time.
Parrots and a few other things are nice but I'm less bothered than the stuff above. Looking forward to jumping into L-O and sprucing up some old builds with some new bits! :)