While I Was Away... December

At the beginning of the month, I had such good intentions to blog my way through Christmas...

I set up my countdown to Christmas calendar on my fridge:

 

I put out my winter dishes:

 
I hung our stockings by the chimney with care (in hopes that St. Nicholas would soon appear):

 
These stockings are from Pottery Barn-- one for each member of the Rodgers family. Only this year, there is a new stocking in the line-up... can you see it? [Hint: It begins with "E".]

 

I finished knitting two scarves, one for Natasha and another for Angela (this one is Natasha's):
 
Angela brought Elijah to Hallmarkland so I could see his new NFL Colts jersey:

 

Elijah really liked those annoying Roffle monkeys:

 
soooo much that he gave one a kiss:

 
My favorite girls in the neighborhood (Janna & Delaney) brought me a sweet surprise:

 
They know that I LOVE homemade sugar cookies with frosting (yum, yum!):

 

I stopped by to see my Mom & Jesse, who were really excited about Christmas:

 
Bill & I went to our secret Christmas shopping destination (LaConner, WA):

 
on the hunt for some special gifts:

 

I prepared packages for Nick and Natasha, who were not going to be home for Christmas:

 
I finally did a little decorating for our upcoming Christmas Eve party...

 
I had a BRILLIANT idea to create this "A Christmas Story"-theme wreathe:

 
This tree is in my kitchen and is an ocean-theme (my favorite):

 
Sierra really didn't feel like participating:

 

We threw a pretty nice Christmas Eve party (and were exhausted afterwards)...

 
And on Christmas Day, we visited with Nick & his girlfriend via the new XBox Kinnect at J's house:

 
WOW! and WHEW! What a CRAZY month!

Have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!!