New Year's Eve

A normal New Year's Eve for our family consists of eating way too many high calorie foods, playing some games, laughing with friends, and Jesse falling asleep on the couch around 9:30pm. Mind you, this is usually someone else's couch. So embarrassing... But this year, we are staying at our house. So he can get in his pajamas before he falls asleep on the couch.

This year, we still will eat the high calorie foods (I am making stuffed mushrooms, yum!) and spend the night laughing with friends, but I got the idea from a friend for some cute New Year's Resolution Cards



Then we may play one of my favorite games - 25 words or less. You try to get your team to guess the words on your card in 25 words or less. It is really fun! Another of my favorites is a face card game called Hand and Foot. One of my very favorites, always played with my in-laws.

And what will the kiddies be doing? Destroying the basement, I'm sure. I really have got to buy an X-Box or something...

P U

Help! I hate smelly dish rags and towels!! Does anyone have a quick solution to get that sour smell out of towels...besides throwing them away, which is what I normally do? I cannot stand the stinky smell of used towels. I can smell one in the kitchen the moment I walk in, I can detect if it has been used to wipe down the table, and I detest it on my hands!! Yuck!! Does anyone have a trick up their sleeve that actually works?

Christmas at our House!

We had a fun and relaxing Christmas Day at our house! Emma got a doll from Gabe, and has been loving on her since. When she is not loving on the baby, she is cooking up a storm in her new kitchen. Gabe thinks he is so cool on his new bike, but will have to wait to test it out...don't worry, he has plenty of other gadgets to play with!

**Emma fell asleep on the way home from SLC Christmas Eve, so she slept in her dress**

Christmas Eve Memories...

When it comes right down to it, I enjoy Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. I love the anticipation of Christmas Eve Day, the hustle and bustle! I have many fond memories of Christmas Eve involving family and friends. Many have been spent with my in-laws, and we often would give into the excitement and open our presents on Christmas Eve. I loved that! Our first Christmas in Utah was spent with a friends family from work - The Snell's. Brenda spoiled Gabriel like he was one of her own grandchildren. We ordered dinner off of a coded menu, so you didn't know what combination of food you would be served or if utensils would come with it. I will always remember that year and the love they shared with us! I also remember one year spent with the Carpenter's and testing our hand at Fondue!

This year we started a new tradition...let's hope it happens next year so it can be a tradition. We dressed up in our Sunday best and went out to dinner in SLC - The Roof at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We were seated right by a window with a breathtaking view of the Temple. As we ate, it started to snow which only added to the magic! After we stuffed ourselves, we bundled up and headed over to Temple Square to see the Lights.

Gabe and Emma before and during Dinner...

All bundled up in front of the tree at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building...

Merry Christmas! We love you all - old and new friends! It has been wonderful to reflect on our Christmas Memories and to also reflect on the life of our beloved Savior this beautiful season.

Family Christmas Parties...

I love Family Christmas Parties! We missed Susan and Wayne at the Allen Family Party, but are all looking forward to next year when they will be with us! The Madsen Family Party has a tradition of going Bowling. We all love this tradition! There is a lot of whooping and hollering, challenging each other, bets, and teasing. Such a fun time! Here is my Mom with Gabe, Emma, and cousin Cade. We rent the entire alley for one hour. It only has 8 lanes, but we all spread out into teams and bowl like crazy!


Here is Emma, who did actually have her hand at the game and was quite good! I'll add in Christmas Memory #11 here. Two years ago, I was pregnant with her, but hadn't told anyone yet. I was four months along and was sucking my gut in as much as I could so no one would notice. How I ever thought I could hide my 4 month pregnant belly, I'm not sure. I was cornered after the bowling by my sisters and Mom. "Is there something you want to tell us?" I said, "No, do I look fat?" They all just kind of stared at me. Then it all came out. I am the last one on my side of the family to still be having kids, so this was really exciting for my Mom and sisters!

Christmas at Home...

This is Christmas Memory/Tradition 10. I've almost made it, and have thoroughly enjoyed stepping back and reflecting on this joyous season with so many of you! I have been thinking a lot about Christmas growing up. Here are some of the memories of my childhood:

• Waking up REALLY early to go LOOK at our presents...then go get Mom and Dad later.
• It was so cold in the family room where we opened presents. We all brought blankets and Dad would crank up the electric heat!
  
• Our Christmas Tree was always real, usually the Charlie Brown variety. My parents still go cut one down every year.
• The lights on the tree were those huge C9 bulbs. The cool part was, my parents had these tin reflectors that went behind the lights. So cool. Did anyone else have those?
• Our neighbor, Bev, always brought a plateful of cookies right before the holiday. These were by far my favorite neighbor gift. There was a huge variety and my favorites were always the candy cane cookies and a butter cookie. Mmmm...
• Over winter break we always played in the snow. I remember one particular Christmas when Nell and I got new snowclothes. We were out building caves and forts every day! Doesn't it seem like we had more snow back then?
• I loved that relaxed feeling after all the presents were opened, the sun was finally up, everyone was content, things were just right...
• My Mom had this tiny candle set of Santa, carolers, angels...it was like a nativity set with Santa...but we also had a real nativity.
• The Ward Christmas party always had Santa there. As a child that was the best. I was always so nervous to take my turn...why?
• I loved the magic of Christmas as a child and LOVE to see my children experience the same magic.
  

Christmas with Kyle...

Sixteen years ago today, my older sister, Paula, was expecting her first baby. A boy, and the first grandson! The baby came early. Paula had Toxemia and Group B Strep was transferred to the baby when he was born. This is a life threatening infection for newborns. Kyle was born December 20, 1991. I still remember that Christmas. He was at McKay-Dee Medical Center on Christmas Day that year. Our family woke up as usual on Christmas day, opened presents, and had a Christmas meal. I still remember kneeling at our chairs before we ate, listening to a tender prayer offered by my Dad to our loving Heavenly Father to bless this new baby and Paula and Ray. We went to the hospital later that day. Kyle was hooked up to every machine possible, had the best doctors and nurses (who couldn't resist him!), and had many prayers offered on his behalf. In a short amount of time, he had open heart surgery, 2 complete blood transfusions, a collapsed lung, and every drug and experimental drug used on him. But he was a tough little guy! Sometime in February, he was able to come home. I can still picture him hooked up to his little Oxygen tank. It really was so cute! Today, Kyle turns 16! He loves to wrestle and be a cowboy! And I'm sure a few girls are chasing him!! I don't remember what I got that year for Christmas, but I do remember praying for a miracle. And a miracle is what we got...Happy Birthday Kyle!!

The Advent Calendar...

Every family should have the tradition of the Advent Calendar! What child doesn't love to wake up every morning to count down one more day until Christmas? Ours is a quilted tree with a button for one ornament to be hung on each day. Gabriel loves to lay all of the fabric ornaments out every morning and make his selection. Lucky boy...he doesn't have to take turns with anyone. I especially love our Advent Calendar, because I made it. It's nothing impressive, but was made with love by me! I can still remember our Advent Calendar growing up: it was a felt tree sewn on what seemed to be burlap. There were tiny wooden ornaments, each with a gold thread acting as the hook. We had to use a straight pin to put each one on. I, unlike Gabe, had to share the sacred morning duty with my sisters. And no one ever gave up their turn. I wonder if my Mom still has that Advent Calendar...

Christmas Books...

We love, love, love BOOKS at our house! And Christmas books are no exception! For a tradition, we wrap up 24 books each year and then open one each night. This happens every year, usually. This year I didn't, but the books are all out and will continue to be a tradition! We like to add to our collection when we can. There are even some really old ones from when Jesse was growing up. Here are some of Gabriel's favorites:

Of course, this one made the cut...we love the movie too.


This one is about a moose father who wants Christmas to be "perfectly perfect", but he forgets to buy the Christmas tree....


Have you ever woke up the morning after you built a snowman, and he wasn't in the same spot? This answers all your questions to why he moved...really cute!

Christmas Cards...

A tradition for our family is to send out the annual Christmas Card. This is our card for this year that I made on Shutterfly. I usually do a Home Made card, but this year decided to have a change. It was so easy! I LOVE going to the mailbox in December to see what treasures I will find each day. I enjoy hearing from High School and College Friends and couples we have become close to over the years. Although I don't write a letter, I do love to read everyone else's letters and hear how their little families are doing. Their pictures find a special place on our "Family" magnet board for the month of December. Less than two weeks to get those cards out!

Christmas 1996...

December 1996 I was a Junior at Idaho State University with the three best roommates anyone could ever ask for! Pepper, Jamie, Tara, and I were 4 peas in a pod. We got along amazingly great for 4 college age GIRLS, laughed a lot, could read each other's minds, and consumed a large amount of Cereal together. I wish I had a scanner to show you a picture of the 4 of us. It brings back good memories just thinking of them. So, back to Christmas...some of the details are kind of sketchy. Let's be honest, none of us got much sleep and again, we were living on cereal. Pepper, if you read this, you may have to fill in the gaps! That Christmas we had a beautiful live tree. How we got the tree...that's the sketchy part. I can't remember, but it was really pretty and filled our tiny apartment with the scent of pine. We loved it. Tara was a little elaborate at times and covered the tree with at least a couple thousand lights. I am not joking! We all left for Christmas break leaving our lovely scented tree to become dry as a bone. When we returned, we knew the tree needed to find a new home in the dumpster. The problem...we couldn't get the billion lights off without permanently damaging our arms from the pine needles. So, we chucked the entire tree, lights and all. Sorry, Tara. I also remember one of the gifts Pepper gave us that year before we all headed home for Christmas. She had typed all of our favorite scriptures on a small card and laminated it for each of us. I still carry that around in my scriptures...

Pajamas...

I put this darling nightgown on Emma last night, and had a flood of Christmas Flashbacks involving "The Christmas Eve Pajamas". So naturally, my 4th Christmas Memory is the tradition my family had while growing up. Every Christmas Eve, we anticipated the moment we got to open one present. It wasn't a surprise what was inside. It was always pajamas, but hey, we got to open one present early! This nightgown that I put on Emma, reminded me of the nightgowns my Mom used to make for us every year to open on Christmas Eve. I wish I had a picture to share! All 5 of us girls got the exact same nightgown, hand sewn by my Mom! I am not sure the precise year that the Pajamas evolved from hand sewn to store bought, but eventually she quit sewing. But the tradition carried on. I know some of my sisters still have the tradition. We somehow let it slip when we started having kids...maybe it's not too late to start!

This picture is of Emma being tempted by the Hallmark Ornament Tree...Seriously, is she not the cutest?

Hallmark Ornaments...

Growing up, it was a tradition in Jesse's family for his Mom, Susan, to give her sons a Hallmark Ornament each year for Christmas. Susan gave me all of Jesse's ornaments at one of my Bridal Showers. It was one of the best gifts I received! At first the collection was small, but it has continued to grow substantially each year since we have been married...thanks to Susan! She has continued giving us and our children Hallmark ornaments each year. What started as a small collection and filling a small tree, has turned into several 18 gallon bins in my garage that we haul out at the beginning of each December and start to pick through. They no longer fit on just one tree, so we have to be selective. This year it is all Children Ornaments. We could do a tree with only Santas, only Baseball and Basketball, only Cars and Trains, only cartoon and Disney characters, only the ones that hold special meaning to us... It is so fun to sort through them and see the one's that perhaps didn't make the cut the year before. Someday, we should get a gigantic tree and hang them all on it. I can't even begin to guess how many we have. Maybe I will count them when I put them away in January. Susan is in Greece this year...whatever will we do? Oh ya, buy our own :)

Christmas 2005...

Gabriel has ALWAYS wanted a baby sister, ALWAYS! He would ask us constantly about when he could get a baby sister (he was worse than my sweet Mother-in-Law, Susan! - Just teasing, Susan!!) He even started telling his Primary Teachers, Pre-School Teachers, and Babysitters that I was going to have a baby. I was continually getting congratulation notes on his homework, and I was constantly apologizing and explaining the situation... Oh, how he wanted a little sis! We discovered Fall 2005 that we were expecting, so decided to wait until Christmas to tell Gabe. We told him Christmas Eve 2005. Was he ever excited! We probably could have just told him our surprise and forgot Santa that year. Five months later he got her - Miss Emma Kate. Best friends from the beginning...I hope that goes down as one of his best Christmas' ever. It was one of mine...

Christmas 2003...

I have mentioned in earlier posts what a tender-hearted little boy we have. It started at a very young age. One of my favorite Christmas memories involves our tender-hearted Gabriel. In 2003, he was 4 years old, and it was our first Christmas in Utah. Santa was bringing him a train table and trains, but that was it. I worried that he may be a little disappointed that all he saw Christmas morning was a table and trains. No presents to open...just trains to play with. Boy, was I wrong! On Christmas morning, he walked in to see his present, and of course was excited. Then he turned to Jesse, and in all innocence said, "Dad, I don't know what to do about it." Jesse was unsure what he was talking about. "What's wrong, bud?" Then a response that made Jesse and I cry - "I got too much stuff." Only our Gabriel. Always reminding us of what is important in life. That year a little child reminded us that the material things in life aren't what really matters. It's our Savior, our family, our friends...I carry that memory around all year long, but at Christmas, it has a whole new meaning. Thank- you my tender-hearted Angel...

Welcome December!

It's finally here!! The snow had perfect timing this morning to welcome in a new month! Now, it is starting to feel like the holidays. Break out the hot cocoa, turn on the fireplace, hang the stockings, trim the tree... I will start tomorrow on my 12 Christmas Memories. The wheels are turning, and it has actually put a smile on my face, and sometimes a tear or two, to think of so many fond memories...Can't wait to read all of your favorite memories or traditions! Here we go...