Grab a cup of coffee and get cozy…

I’ve been reading it all over Facebook and Blogs…is it really 2011 already?!?!  Where did December go??  Every fall I have dreams of December being relaxing and low key.  This year I’ve realized that December will always be busy and a bit crazy.  That’s the holiday season…and today I’ve decided to just embrace the crazy.  January seems to be the more “chill” month of the year, so I know there’s rest ahead.  But I have a load of new memories and sweet times spent with family and friends that I am thankful for from the previous month.  My husband and I have an amazing group of friends that we go back to teen years with.  Though a couple of these sweet friends have moved away, we all just pick up where we left off when we are together.  And we’ve GROWN over the past few years with the blessings of spouses and little ones:

And I hope our kiddos will get to have the same life long friendships.

So, Christmas.  When my hubby and I got married, we started a stocking tradition between the two of us.  On Christmas Eve after all the family festivities, we would exchange our goodie filled stockings with each other before bed.  They are mostly just filled with randomness and stuff that will make your teeth rot, but it’s fun for us.  Hubby didn’t skimp on the teeth rotting stuff:

But there was one thing that got me even MORE excited than my chocolate.  I know, I know…could there even be such an item???  Yes.  There is:
I admit it.  I’m a total post-it junkie.  They make me happy.

And have ya’ll seen the movie Tangled??  Super cute.  My girlie loved it and we saw it…twice.  For Christmas she got Rapunzel the doll.  Really, there IS a doll in there somewhere.

But beyond the goodies and get togethers, this was the thought in my mind throughout December.  So so thankful.

And because it’s the end of a year, I think it’s only appropriate that there’s some Digs and Overs in this post:

1. Some of my favorite reads from this year:  Arena by Karen Hancock was AMAZING!  Thanks Doni for introducing me to the incredible story telling talents of Karen Hancock!  I’m already knee deep in Legends of the Guardian-King series and love the way she weaves words to paint pictures in my head.  So Over My Head by Jenny B Jones completed the Charmed Life Series this year and I also backtracked to Ms. Jones’s first 3-book series A Katie Parker Production.  LOVED them all!  Even though I’m a NOOK girl now (thank you, Santa), the physical copies of these books will stay on my shelf for my daughter to read when she’s older.  JBJ, I’m forever a fan and CANNOT WAIT for Save the Date to hit book stores in February!!  Randy Alcorn and Ted Dekker both have me hooked and I’ll be reading more of each in 2011.  And finally, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.  I stayed up waaaaaaay too late a many a nights with these reads.  So so good.  What were some of your favorite reads???
2. Soundtracks of my little world in 2010:  Manic Drive, Chasen, Brooke Fraser, Skillet, Jason Castro, Fireflight… oh, so many more.  You know how you hear a song and it usually has certain memories attached to it.  Like whenever I hear I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith) I’m instantly transported back to sophomore homecoming dance…and I’m pretty sure I still had a good three inches on most of the guys I knew back then.  Seriously, why do girls get their growth spurts so much earlier than guys?  I think I’ve been 5′9″ since I was in like the fifth grade.  Annnnyways… makes me wonder which memories from this year will pop in my head when I hear these songs again 10 years from now???  What bands/musicians were you diggin this year???
3. I was making my way through Costco two days before Christmas.  On a mission.  And moving at the speed of snail.  I’m pretty sure they were approaching the fire code limit with the amount of people shuffling though the aisles. Anyway, I was ONLY to grab the items on the list.  I’m trying to keep tunnel vision as I {slooooooowly} head for the dairy freezer and suddenly there’s a cup of something being handed to me and then everything goes into slow motion from there.  I take a sip of something heavenly, freeze, turn, and completely ditch my cart to cut through the mob that stands between me and my own Costco sized jug of this:

1. The verdict is still out on these.  Not completely “over it” because they are my kids “pets” for now.  And I don’t have to poopey-scoop, so these are sort of ideal “pets”.  They just make these crazy little noises sorta randomly sometimes, like at night, when you are walking down a dark hallway.  FREAKS me out!!
2. These I’m SO completely over!  They come in bundles by the hundreds and you just can’t get rid of them.  No joke, I thought I had thrown all of them away and found these yesterday…all in different locations.  I don’t even know what they are called???  Happy Bandz or Silly Bandz, something like that.  And kids love them.  Not just girls…i’ve seen boys wearing them too.  They’re everywhere!  It’s madness!!  And completely brilliant.
3. Remotes.  For one TV.  I’ll just let the photographic evidence speak my frustrations:

And finally, a little slideshow from 2010.  Thank you, thank you , thank you to all of you who invite me to photograph such precious moments for you.  You are a blessing to me!  Also THRILLED to have obtained permission to use When I’m With You by the wonderfully talented JJ Heller on my portrait website this year.  LOVE LOVE LOVE this song.  Sorry if the slideshow is a little wonky…I may have crammed a few too many adorable faces into the show

And coming to the blog soon…three little angels that didn’t want to miss out on Christmas this last year!

God bless you and your family this new year.

Joyfully, Erin