These are a few of my favorite things.......

Merry Christmas Eve !! I am up alone this morning - a rare treat ;-) I have a freshly ground cup of Jamaica's finest here beside the tree and just wanted to take a minute to wish you the best of the season.

We are having our family meal today around one-ish so I have plenty to do this morning other than coffee drinking and tree gazing, but there was one thing I promised I would do and I strive to keep my word as much as possible.

A few weeks ago I had dinner with the two original "Mama Leisha Girls" to celebrate Jenny's birthday and to exchange our Christmas gifts. We took a road trip to Nashville in November to start our Christmas shopping and had a little too much fun - who knew trying on hats could be so much fun!! I share this picture only because of the fun factor - it certainly isn't to show off how good I look in a hat !!

Forgive me, I digress, it was during this fun filled adventure that I got the idea of what I wanted to do for my girls for Christmas. We looked at several cute aprons and I thought that would be a great thing to build a gift around - so I came home armed with my plan. I found some cute festive aprons and made some homemade goodies to go with, found some monogrammed recipe cards and I was ready. The night we met we opened our gifts from Hannah first - a cookbook, a monogrammed Christmas ornament, Christmas kitchen towels and....an apron!! How fun - I LOVE aprons !! ;-) Next we opened the gifts from Jenny - decorated with a beautiful rhinestoned monogrammed ornament (hmm...) we opened our boxes at the same time and went into fits of laughter - monogrammed aprons !! Well needless to say when they opened the packages from me we were just plain silly- everyone went home with two new aprons !! The best part of course is knowing that we are like minded and obviously know each other pretty well!! Jenny really went above and beyond in her apron giving by having them embroidered - she told me she wanted me to post a picture on my blog of me in my apron so.......notice the "H" over my shoulder.....hmm. Can I tell you how much I love this apron?? I mean it has polka dots for goodness sake - big ones!! And I have to be honest with you y'all - in the midst of all the girlie giggling - I was choked up - I love my girls so much and this apron really blessed me because I felt the love that was put into giving it. Jenny Pooh I will never put this on with out being reminded of how blessed I am to have your friendship!! It is truly an honor to be your "Mama Leisha" - one I pray that I will enjoy for many years to come!!

So a few of my favorite things......my girls - those mentioned here and those who are not - you know who you are and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH - can't imagine where I would be without each and everyone of you!! Thank you for allowing me to be Mama Leisha in your lives (boots and all). The good looking cake I am holding is our dessert today - Italian Creme Cake - another one of my favorite things. And last but not least aprons - did I mention I love aprons!?! This one has one more feature that you MUST see......

a ruffle.....it has a ruffle - I am pretty sure it doesn't get any better than that !!

On that ruffly note, I bid you adieu and wish you all the very Merriest of Christmases - hug your loved ones and treasure the moments of memory making - count your blessings and you will feel rich regardless of the recession - The King is still on the thrown!!

Thank You Jesus for all you do in our lives and Happy Birthday Eve - I love You like crazy!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha