Christmastime!

"Christmas time is here

Happiness and cheer

Fun for all that children call

Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air

Carols everywhere

Olden times and ancient rhymes

Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air

Beauty everywhere

Yuletide by the fireside

And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here

We'll be drawing near

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year

Oh, that we could always see

Such spirit through the year..."

~from A Charlie Brown Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year!

I know I'm late in posting for Christmas but I figured I should do it before I started on any of my January posts *grin*

Being with my family was truly a wonderful experience - mostly because my brother, Andrew & Alex with his wife Sarah were home and that meant everyone got to meet baby Ashton for the first time! Including my "adopted" brothers, Chris Gomes (he is a friend of my brother, Aaron and is over at my parent's house all the time because his own home situation is not so good) & Jason Mansfield (who is my brother's friend and whose home situation is not so good either)

Ashton with his "uncle" Chris

here is Ashton with his Aunt Anna, just chillin' to a band called Rilo Kiley before Bath Time

Ashton did really well being passed from one set of hands to another and now that we're home, I have a sneaking suspicion he wants me to hold him just as much as when he was in WV ;)

Ashton with his Grandmommy again

(my sister got a camera for Christmas and took these great shots!)

As soon as I get the other pictures of my family holding Ashton, I will DEFINITELY post them!

Baby Ashton & I left on the 15th for WV and that meant that we were there to put up the tree and help decorate it, plus, I helped bake Christmas cookies and coffee cakes - YUM!

Not so yummy for my waistline, but let's not dwell on things past

Tim flew in on the 23rd and then flew back with us yesterday (January 3rd, 2011) Since we had gone out for my sister Anna's graduation he had a limited amount of vacation time, so he was able to have 11 days off - great for reading and cuddling with his son!

I have noticed that as we get older, our presents get smaller but I was very pleased with the gifts I received this year!

I basically had a cookbook Christmas! The cookbooks I received from Tim were a Betty Crocker 1950's edition & The Pioneer Woman Cooks

My mom also gave me two spiral bound cookbooks she picked up at a church fundraiser!

Tim mentioned that he should take a good look at his pants because with all my cookbooks he won't be able to fit in them again :)

Did I mention I think food is fun?? So do parts of my body that shall remain nameless. . .

One touching aspect of our trip, aside from everyone meeting and bonding with the baby, was the fact that my two brothers, Alex & Aaron, decided to take steps to reconciling their relationship

Which made me cry. Not that it's all about me, but I just thought I'd give it a mention.

God works in mysterious and wonderful ways!

More to come . . .