...the words I've been clinging to to justify leaving my Christmas cards up for SO long! Yes, Christmas is over, but surely I can continue admiring them because afterall...it is a happy new year, right?

The only thing that made it okay was the "happy" I got this year out of my love for all things Christmas Cards. This year I decided to start a little tradition for us by creating a place for us to keep a copy of each of the Christmas cards we send out. My hope is to add to this book each year, one day filling the book with a growing family, special memories and have a place to look back at all of our cards year after year.


I ordered the book from Jenni Bick Bookbinding and I was thrilled the day it came! Isn't it fun when something you order arrives just as you pictured it?!

This book is called the Classic European Bookcloth Photo Album. It is available in so many fun colors, sizes and personalization options. My wheels are already spinning on other fun ways to used these books! I love them! How much fun to have a book of photographs for each year? OR if we're dreaming a book for each season! Lime for Spring, Yellow for Summer, Orange for Fall, Sky for Winter! And don't forget you can emboss ANYTHING on the front cover. TOO FUN.

Earlier this month I went on a treasure hunt.

My friends Rebekah and Annie hunted along side me.

Huntin' for treasure is a lot like huntin' for animals.

You wake up early. Eat a hardy breakfast. Drive a few hours....and HUNT

When you return home from the hunt you display your trophies proudly.

I think "low key" was the universal theme for this year's New Year's Eve. This could either mean a) that people just weren't in to 2009, or b) quite possibly be yet another sign that we are growing up. I'm thinking the answer is b). We hang on to phrases like "low key" meaning we could be doing something wild and spectaculor, we just choose to do something a little more "relaxed"...I think I like getting old.

New Year's Eve is a holiday that I always want to want it to be a bigger deal than it is. This has been quite a problem in the past. I have no desire to spend a fortune to stand in the freezing cold with millions of strangers with no restrooms to watch a ball drop in New York, or be oblivous to the rising sun in a dark, smoky bar, but I do love champagne, glitter and sequins. I am thrilled as a late twenty something I have reached a stage of life that I can put on my bling and do nothing....delightful.

This year we rang in the new year with a few of our favorite friends at Chop House. The food was better than excellent and the company was hard to beat. Low key and perfect.

After dinner we counted blessings for 2009, and made predictions for 2010. John scribbled our predictions for ourselves, as well as our predictions for each of the other couples present. The envelopes are sealed, but I am already looking forward to seeing what predictions have become blessings as we say farewell to 2010.