Christmas Cookie Exchange 2009!

Well my annual Christmas cookie exchange came and it was as fun as ever!

It is something that I look forward to every year. I kinda over do it a bit I am told but it is something that I love doing!

Some of the ladies that came for the first time were a little intimidated with baking 9 dozen cookies, but hopefully in the long run it was worth it for them! I even had one lady who emailed me wanting to know if I was serious! Hahaha!

Anyhow, 11 ladies were able to make it this year. It was definitely a fun bunch of ladies!

I had friends I knew from ,y childhood, friends from high school, friends from my old ward in Gilbert, friends from my new ward in Chandler, a friend I had made recently at Sam's club, and my cousin too! To me that is what the holidays are about. Spending it with friends and family. It's one of the things that makes the holidays for me!

We had a yummy dinner then we swapped cookies.I think the boxes I made this year turned out cuter than the ones I made last year and the cookies looked so cute in them!

Thank you to all my friends who came for making it such a great night. I am already looking forward to next years exchange!!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

We were a little later getting around to decorating the tree this year. Poor Bailey was asking me daily if it was time to decorate yet. The night we finally did was magical for her I swear! She was so into it! I think that the little ones are what makes this time of year so fun. Watching them and getting a different perspective of the holidays!
Even the older ones were sweet about it and wanting to help! That doesn't always happen around here. Nice! And I do think the tree looks fabulous! I splurged last year and got a tree that is one of those always lit ones. See last year my tree had lights that went out and after checking the lights one by one I couldn't find the burnt out one. So I tried to cut away the lights to restring the sucker, but instead ended up with bloody stumps for fingers. So I got ticked and chucked the tree in the trash and went and got another. And threatened the hubs to not say a word! So putting up my tree this year and seeing it all lit was delightful! Best Christmas purchase ever.
Doesn't it look pretty? Oh and one of my favorite things about putting up the ornaments is remembering where each one came from. Zach made this one when he was in Kindergarten, my girlfriend in Utah always bought me a pig ornament each year, the pillow ornament Tony's grandma made. So many ornaments that have special meaning to me and bring a smile to my face as I look at it!
Once we had it up I was thinking maybe Bailey had the right idea, I should have done this sooner!