Christmas Cards & Old Friends

Since a lot of other blogs I've been reading have been sharing their Christmas cards, I thought I would follow suit. I just love receiving Christmas cards and I've decided the best way to receive them is to send them out. This year we didn't order quite enough so we reordered once and then just decided we would do better next year. Last year we sent out a photo card with our wedding picture on it and I got so many compliments. I have decided that photo cards are wonderful because in so many ways they can show how people have changed during the year or what they've been up to without spending forever writing out a Christmas letter. We obviously had to include a picture of Bogey since he is the big addition to our family this year. That family photo was a struggle to get and I'm just glad it turned out as well as it did...(thanks Dad for being such a great photographer). I also included a picture of Hubby & I in NYC and one of us at one of our favorite things: a St. Louis Cardinals game.

In other happenings, Thursday night I had dinner with a bunch of my girl friends from high school. There were 7 of us girls that hung out and did practically everything together from 2nd grade until we graduated. There were certainly times when we were childish and immature but we have remained friends even as we all develop new friendships and move onto new chapters in our lives. It was so great to see all of them and see how wonderfully life is treating each of them. Only one of those girls has completely gone her separate way, but for the other 6...5 of us are married and 2 of those now have little boys. It's so exciting to see how God is blessing each individual family and each woman. One of the girls took a picture, but here's a picture of the 6 of us from my bridal shower in May 2007. Love you girls!

Today Hubby & I started what might become a tradition in the Layman house, I (we) attempted homemade iced sugar cookies for the first time. With homemade dough and everything. I made the dough, Hubby rolled it out and cut little snowmen, candy canes, stockings, Christmas trees, & gingerbread men/women out and I finished up with the baking. They're not covered in icing yet, but they finished product tastes pretty dang good so far! We're going to ice them later this week right before we head out to one of our Christmas celebrations. I didn't take any pictures because they're kind of boring with the icing but I'll try to remember once they're completely finished. We had a great time and it brought back so many memories of making Christmas cookies with my mom. Tonight we have my office party and we're eating at an amazing restaurant called Ocean Zen...I just love my office party because it's so intimate and close! With spouses and all, we only have 14 people in attendance which makes for a great time and also the option of eating at fabulous places! Tomorrow we start our first of several Christmas gatherings, I'll be sure and try to post as I can!