Christmas book club

It's the most wonderful book club of the year! We met at Collette's for dinner, book discussion, and gift exchange.

Collette's husband Travis took our group photo (he was dealing with an unfamiliar camera).

Collette said the blessing and got choked up when she talked about our friendship. It was sweet and adorable.

It's always fun when we bring in all our gifts and fill up the tree!

Travis won this lamp as a white elephant gift, much to Collette's delight. (She said, "not in my house!")

We had a lot to say about this book, which was a wonderful selection to read at Christmastime to help us focus on the Savior.

Jana is still recovering from the pneumonia from hell that lasted a month and left her with 3 cracked ribs from coughing so hard. Or as her mother-in-law called it, "her little cold."

I made this caramel cake. It was delicious, but hideous. The frosting took way longer to set up than the recipe specified, so it pooled at the bottom of the plate.

Jenn has entered the world of texting! But Jill called her phone "the brick." She's a late adopter.

December book club is always fun because we have a book exchange and we also exchange gifts. Jenn brought us some of our favorite candies; Amy made us beautiful ornaments with her Silhouette machine (jealous); Jana made us adorable little first aid kits with a tag that said, "thanks for helping me through the bumps and bruises of life;" Collette gave us monogram ornaments, a BYU water bottle and chocolate cinnamon bears from the candy counter of the BYU bookstore; Jill gave us all a book that she read this year and loved. (I made everyone sparkly literary ornaments.)

Jana had me for the book exchange and gave me Infinite Jest. I saw it and said, "I totally want to read this!" (despite the fact that it is over 1000 pages) and she said, "I know! I saw it on your Goodreads list!" I love Goodreads.

I came home with many parcels and gifts, such a treat (also leftover cake, which delighted my family).