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Christmas in the Heart of Dixie

First, let me wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year. I know I am late but please know that I was thinking of each and everyone of you Christmas Day.

We made it to Mobile, Alabama for the Holiday's just in time for all the rain. There is nothing like Christmas in the deep south; in the Heart of Dixie. Spending Christmas in Alabama feels like we are in another part of the world. It just feels different here or maybe it's because I have not lived in Mobile for 20 years. Although, I love spending this time with my extended family, I think next year we will be staying home for Christmas. Both Brad and Ashley want to feel what it is like to wake up in their own beds Christmas morning. It's time we start our own family Christmas traditions.

Ashley is doing well. History has shown that Ashley always gets sick during Christmas but not this time. Although she did give us quite a scare on our drive up to Mobile. She was coughing so hard and so much that she couldn't catch her breath. She had this look of fear on her face that we pulled over on the side of Interstate 10 to help her catch her breath. Thankfully, she was able to breathe normally after a few minutes and we finished our drive without any further problems.

The children received nice gifts this year even with everyone being on a tight budget the children managed to get all they asked for and more. As the children get older the gifts get bigger and more expensive which means less gifts come Christmas morning. We tried hard to have a debt free Christmas, I wish I could say we succeeded but I am happy to say that we only charged a couple hundred dollars which is significantly less than we charged last year!

I have spent most of time in Mobile retyping all of the recipes all of you submitted to be placed in the new cookbook. Boy, retyping all of those recipes is very time consuming but at the same time it has made me very hungry(so many good recipes). If you haven't submitted a recipe there is still time, please submit your recipe by logging on to this website, http://www.typensave.com Using the login information below:

Contributor: (type in your name)
Group Login: love4ashley
Password: help4ashley

I have already typed in approximately 24 recipes, there is about 120 more to go. We have a minimum of 200 recipes needed to complete the recipe book. You can also log on using the above information to check to see if I have added your recipe. If I have not added your recipe, you are more than welcome to add it yourself. My goal is to have the recipes and the cookbook ordered before January 15 to have the cookbooks delivered by the end of January. You can help me greatly by submitting your own recipes.

Ashley's cookbook is going to be a large fundraising opportunity, I really want this book to be professional looking and appealing not to mention full of great recipes by people that love Ashley. Thank you so much for your contribution.

If you have any questions regarding the cookbook, please send me an email to loveashley@loveforashley.com.

Happy New Year, Laurie

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