1st Annual Cookie Exchange

Saturday morning all of the girls gathered at my mother's house to exchange 80+ cookies that we all slaved over the days before. And let me tell you they were all so very good! This was the first time we did a cookie exchange and I think it was pretty successful. In the past we usually make baskets and everyone provides and item to put inthe baskets, usually homemade. Last year Heather and Pam were in the process of moving and we decided to skip the baskets. This year we thought it would be fun to try something different. There were eight of us total, all of my sisters, my mom, and two friends, it was a great group of ladies! We each brought a brunch item and enjoyed each others fellowship before the swap began. The food was delicious!!

After the cookie swap we headed over to Heather's to spend time with our Dad, who was in town from Ohio. He gave me this book, well actually it is for Ella! It is about grandfathers and their grandchildren: I already know I Love You, by Billy Crystal. What was so cool about it was his Billy Crystal's granddaughters name is Ella. This is going to be a special book for my little Ella, especially since she won't be able to see her grandpa as much as she'd like...so I'm excited to be able to pull the book out and read it to her. I am even going to paste this picture on the inside of the book so she can look at Grandpa and Mommy when we read it! Of course I could not even read the book because I was crying, but it already is such a special gift.

Later that evening we headed over to the Riddle's for a Christmas Party. We each bring a $10 gift and play dirty santa. This year we decided to have a little fun and asked everyone to bring a gift that begins with the letter "M." Needless to say there were some interesting gift choices. I ended up with a great gift though, a gift card to Marble Slab Creamery. How ironic that the pregnant one gets the ice cream. HA! Jeramy's first gift was a gift card to Mellow Mushroom, but that got stolen and he ended up with a 12 pack of Michelob Ultra Light...he so nicely put it in the cooler for everyone to enjoy. It was a long day, but a great one!