Beautiful 2009: the year in pictures...

... A photo for each month of the year as a retrospective.  I enjoyed doing this last year and thought I'd take the opportunity to reflect on 2009 and all the blessings and joys we have celebrated!

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
~T.S. Eliot

JANUARY . . .

. . . icy home outside but a cozy home inside as the Year of Reading and Writing begins...

FEBRUARY . . .

. . . celebrating my hubby's 30th birthday with an Italian feast . . .

MARCH . . .

. . . a return trip to beautiful California to visit Marshall, Jen, and baby Ava.  Here we are in Palos Verdes . . .

APRIL . . .

. . . Greta gets a new little sister - Heidi Lou!

MAY . . .

. . . Amy comes to visit Dallas, and we have our first pool day of the season accompanied by juicy watermelon with lime. . .

JUNE . . .

. . . my first visit to breathtaking Colorado, where I want to return and never leave again. . .

JULY . . .

. . . 4 years of marriage with my strong, caring, thoughtful, wonderful husband - oh, how I love him!

AUGUST . . .

. . . 'lil reunion with Suz and Amy in Nashville - snapping a quick photo before the torrential downpour/hurricane blew us away. . .

SEPTEMBER . . .

. . . Lake Grapevine hike with Terrica on Labor Day. . .

OCTOBER . . .

. . . experiencing Key Largo's famous sunsets on a mother/daughter trip. . .

NOVEMBER . . .

. . . bundling up in the chilly New Jersey air for a day trip to Alstede Farms. . .

DECEMBER . . .

. . . my precious 7-year-old niece Ashley is baptized, and I cry like a baby.

I look forward to soaking up another year of this beautiful life I've been given!

Christmas movie essentials.

I'll write more soon, but for now I had to share the beloved Christmas films that have been on permanent loop at the Bailey house.  Who doesn't love the frumpily adorable Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping and the mom who keeps repeating to herself at the dinner table, "These mashed potatoes are so creamy..."  Or precocious little pre-American Beauty Thora Birch in All I Want For Christmas?

A few more that must be added to the collection for next year:
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Miracle on 34th Street: the original
Polar Express
A Charlie Brown Christmas


If you have any other suggestions, please, share!