last christmas, I gave you my heart...

Seriously, isn't the title of this post from the most depressing Christmas song EVER (well, besides the song where a little boy had to get shoes for his mom before she DIED.)? Suddenly, on January 12, I have it stuck in my head and now you're stuck with it too. ;)

Gosh, I haven't blogged in ages! I've actually been doing a decent amount of sewing over the past month so I will defnitely have to catch up on sharing those fun pictures. Anywho, for the first time Heather and I hosted Christmas dinner for my family this last year! It was so much fun and I think, at the ripe age of 30, it helped solidify me into identifying as a tride and true adult, for real.

The family came over around 3:00 and we started the evening with appetizers of cheeseballs, meatballs, cookies and other sweet treats. I had the foresight to freeze all of the cookies I received at Tricia's AMAZING cookie exchange earlier in the month which may be one of the top 10 best ideas I've ever had. Not only did it save me from eating dozens of cookies myself during the holidays, but on Christmas day I had a wonderful assortment of goodies to serve everyone and I didn't have to bake one of them. WIN. :)

Michael put on his fanciest bow tie just for the ocassion.

We all got each other a ton of presents which didn't matter one bit; the best gift I ever could have gotten was having everyone I love most in the world all over at my house. It had been almost two years since my mom had been to my house (due to illness- our condo is on the second floor) and having her there filled me with more gratitude and joy than I can properly express.

I have a pretty crafty family and we all REALLY love making and give handmade gifts. This year I made quilts for my mom and sister and ordered headbands (to match their sparkley TOMS) and owl hats for the girls (check out Hitched and Stitched's website, makers of the cute-tastic owl hats, to check out dapper Brady in his custom sock monkey hat!).

Me and Mom with her Christmas quilt.

Laura having a HOOT of a good time- HA! :)

My sister also knitted us all beautiful scarves and the Lollies sewed a Christmas themed pillow case for me!

They did SUCH a good job!

Christmas Day 2011 = FANTASTIC. I'm looking forward to many more family gatherings at our house in the future. :)