Collette's husband Travis took this picture of us after amusing us with his efforts to get the shot just right. By the time he finally snapped the picture we were fatigued from smiling!
We all love the look of our presents for each other under Collette's tree.
Cute Collette said the prayer over dinner and got choked up (of course I took this picture after it was over).
We had a wonderful meal, but I thought the camera battery had died so I couldn't document it but I did get this shot of Jenn's gorgeous salad. Amy made a roast, I brought Smashers from Wallaby's, Collette brought Shirley's rolls, and Jana made some tasty drinks...Michelle was on dessert.
Collette "proudly" displayed the white elephant gift Travis won at his work party.
Our book discussion this month was a fabulous choice, especially for December. We have never read a church book before, which is silly because we all have that in common and have so much to say.
We talked for a long time.
Poor Jana, her pneumonia was gone but she was left with 3 cracked ribs from coughing so much! She was pretty uncomfortable and struggled every time she needed to cough.
Jenn has only recently gotten texting technology on her brick...ahem cell phone. We just had to tease her about this. I took a picture of her with my phone and texted it to her but it came through looking like a cartoon!
Behold the glorious Caramel Cake Michelle made for us! The cake was so soft and delicious that I kept eating it even after I should have stopped.
Our favorite part of the night is our gift exchange! This photo doesn't even show everything, but it does show the lovely pile-up of presents waiting to be opened. Jana gave us the cute First Aid Kit and Jenn gave us each a bag of our favorite Cadbury Eggs!
Michelle made these beautiful ornaments complete with pages from Sense and Sensibility.
Amy made these cool paper decorations with one of her creative machines (I can't keep up).
I gave the girls this great book.
Collette gave us a BYU water bottle and and big bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears plus a sparkly ornament of our initial.
We also did our book exchange (remember we drew names last month?). I think everyone was delighted with the results.
This is the book I got from Michelle, delightful!
Collette gave to Amy: Unbroken
Jenn gave to Collette: Remarkable Creatures
Michelle gave to me: Death Comes to Pemberley
Jana gave to Michelle: Infinite Jest
Amy gave to Jana: The Spanish Bride
I gave to Jenn: A Parchment of Leaves
It feels like a lot of effort to get everything together for this night, but we're always so glad once we get there. Vive le book club!
**Have you read any of those books?
Are you ready for Christmas?
Can you believe I didn't post for a whole week?**
Comment Window Tidbit: It's weird to finally have some down time. I read in the cozy for 2 hours this morning and finally finished a book! I have messes everywhere that need to be cleaned up but I keep puttering around because I can.
8 comments:
i am so sad I can't see all of the pictures!! I'm on the ipad here in the hospital and their internet isn't working well for me. I'll have to check the pictures out when I get home.
I am shocked you haven't posted in a week. I was starting to wonder if everything was okay.
I am ready for Christmas, I made sure I was before today so that I wouldnt have to worry about trying to take care of Jase and finish everything up.
Enjoy the puttering!
I have been checking back to see if you would post any day now!!
Love the festive spread of gifts under the tree.
That cake looks heavenly!
White elephant gifts are so silly... I thought Kim's was bad (a Smurf hat from a party with a group of therapists that all contract with the same home health agencies as her)until I saw this that Collette is posing with.
Fun to see what books everyone received.
Oh and enjoy your time off! I have the whole two weeks of with the kids too except I need to go in for a few hours next Tues and next Wed but the kids can go with me to the office then. Isn't it nice not to have the work routine?
HOOORay for you being home!!!!
I just love your book club... but then- who doesn't?
I hope you have a wonderful time puttering.
I'm enjoying puttering around as well.
That was one of my ugliest cakes ever, but it was pretty tasty.
I loved that Collette got choked up during the prayer. So sweet.
What a neat group of friends..so glad you have this!
Oh, your book club looks so fun. I love that you guys have had this going for so long. We had a small very close group do one last year, complete with dinner and I LOVED IT. But someone outside the group got her feelings hurt and we had to disband it. So hard. I really really miss it! I need to write down these books!
I want that cake right now. My goodness. It looks deliciously soft and sweet.
You know, I've never thought of you reading a church related book. How funny.
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