All I want for Christmas...

...is to be surrounded by my family!

There's nothing more comforting than being surrounded by those you cherish the most. Christmas came and went quickly this year but having both families in town was such a blessing. We wasted no time and immediately started cooking.

Lisa started in on the real stuff...

while mom and I attempted to make cake balls.

which didn't turn out so well :(

Dad and Shawn made beautiful pie crusts (who knew)!

One thing I learned quickly after getting married is the Gilmans love the tradition of stuffing stockings full of goodies...so we did!

The boys thought long and hard while writing in their Christmas cards

After Chris read the Christmas story we began unwrapping

We ended the evening at my parent's house for a delicious dinner with the whole family!

Christmas Decorations

I was especially excited to put up our Christmas decorations this year since it's our first year in the new house. I had intentions of simply taking stock of what we had one day BEFORE Thanksgiving and got so excited, all the decorations were up before the day was over. Christmas decorations are definitely one of my favorite things about this joyous time of year.

Cake Balls

The Paul family came to visit last weekend and Monica introduced me to cake balls and I'm hooked! They were so much fun to make and a great treat for holiday parties.

Yummy!

Birthday Wishes

Thanks to my wonderful family and friends, I had an amazing birthday yesterday! I was showered with two birthday cakes, an edible arrangement, freshly baked cookies, gorgeous flowers from my boss and had a great dinner with my family at Dakota's Steakhouse.