Happy New Year!!

I sincerely hope that each of you had a fabulous holiday! We certainly did! On Christmas Eve we had a gathering of our families here at the house (for the last time ever!!). My husband's parents and his brother, sister-in-law and niece as well as my brother and his wife and kids and of course my dad (who lives with us) and our two kids enjoyed a fabulous traditional Christmas dinner of Turkey and all the trimmings made by my fantastic husband! He was in the kitchen for about 9 hours that day! The meal was outstanding and the kids had a blast opening presents. This year was Xander's 3rd Christmas but his first getting enjoyment from it. He got excited every time he saw presents come in the door. Once our guests left we opened up our Christmas Eve gifts which are always new pj's and the kids put out home-made cookies and egg nog for Santa and headed to bed.

Christmas morning is our special little tradition. We don't have visitors, and we don't go anywhere either. We wake up, open our stockings, then the kids get to open their Santa gift and we have wonderful breakfast. Our Christmas morning breakfast has been a tradition in my family as long as I can remember. We have what we call "Maple Syrup" crepes. They are crepes that are rolled up, placed in a casserole dish and then covered with a sauce made of maple syrup and melted butter!! This is then baked in the oven until the sauce bubbles! The result is by far the most delectable breakfast ever! We then serve it with bacon (of course, what outstanding breakfast would not include bacon??) and fresh squeezed orange juice which we blend up with an egg. I know, sounds weird, but I assure you it is amazing. It's a trick of fine hotels everywhere. The orange juice is creamy and delicious. After breakfast the kids open their presents and then we just lounge about in our pj's enjoying our gifts. We usually watch a few movies & play video games. Dinner is a fun meal of crabs legs, Caesar salad and cheeses. Oh and of course a few bottles of choice Burgundy wines!! It's heavenly!

New Year's eve is also a ton of fun. We get together with friends of ours and it is usually a sleep-over pj party involving lots of fun and games and a really fun gift exchange. Everyone brings a wrapped present (this year it was supposed to be re-gifted gifts). We take turns picking gifts which can include stealing gifts already selected by others until no presents remain under the tree. At that point we open them up to see what we had been fighting over. It was hilarious. Some of the gifts were truly horrible! We had a lot of fun.

Now back to normal life. Since we have sold our house and now bought a new one life is going to be just as crazy as usual. But my Stampin' Up life is not going to stop! Sale-a-bration begins on Monday with the release of the new Occasions Mini Catalogue. For every $65 you spend, you get to choose a FREEBIE from the exclusive Sale-a-bration catalogue.

I have changed my class & club formats around! Each month I am running a Mystery Hostess Club. Each person who submits a qualified order during the club dates is entered into a draw to be hostess for that month. Of course you can come to my place on the second Thursday or Friday of each month to make fabulous projects and learn new techniques. Please let me know if you would like to join us this week.

The other class that I am starting for 2010 is Stamp-a-bunch! On Thursday and Saturday of the 4th week of each month (some dates might be re-arranged) you can join me at my place to make 6 cards for only $15 or place a $25 order and get the class for FREE. Bring a friend and make 2 sets of cards! This month we will be making Thank you cards.

Visit my event page for more info or contact me directly to book a spot. Space is limited so book early!

Cheers,