Christmas Day!

Sophie, G'pa Madsen, & Gavin

Christmas this year was pretty low-key since Jason, Becki, and the 6 kidlettes are in Mexico celebrating Caribbean style! Got up around 9ish, had breakfast, and waited patiently til Rach, Doug, and Gavin came over (they spent the night with Doug's parents) and Hy, Anne, and Sophie arrived. I must admit being single kinda sucks on Christmas day cause all the little families get up and do one gift exchange and then come over to my parents for a 2nd one and I have to wait and wait and wait for my one gift exchange...I know, I know poor me! tee hee


GG Faye & Anne



Doug, Hyrum, & Rach (pretty teeth compliments of McKay)




Doug showing off the blankie Anne made him




Mom

We had a homemade Christmas this year and it was fun to see what everyone made for the person they drew. I drew Rachel and I made her a scarf and created a coupon organizer box. I also made my Grandma an apron and Sophie a Quiet Book (that took forever, but I must say it turned out great and she loved it!)


Rach modeling her scarf



GG Faye in her apron



Sophie and her Quiet Book

Had a delicious turkey lunch and then did a movie marathon watching all the DVDs that we got in our stockings.

Now to the true meaning of the day, the gift of Jesus Christ. I am so blessed to know that He loves me so much He was willing to come to Earth and fulfill His mission which allows me to fulfill mine. Merry Christmas to all!

Sophie and Gavin

Sophie and Gavin are so cute to watch! Sophie wants to touch him whenever he lays on the play mat she loaned to him for the holidays. She tries very hard to only give gentle touches and kisses and hugs. Soph is still working on her balance so the only times we really get nervous about her affection is when she gets tripped up on the toys or starts to go for his eyes. Love these little babies!

P.S. Anne told me on the way over to the house Sophie kept saying over and over "Wawa cute" and I'm Wawa! Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Music & the Spoken Word

This morning Mom, Dad, and I went to Music and the Spoken Word for a special Christmas concert, "The Wondrous Gift of Christmas". Natalie Cole (singer/songwriter) and David McCullough (historian/author) were the special guests today. It took a bit of patience to get through all the traffic and the snow, but we made it and the Conference Center was packed! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang some beautiful songs and Natalie Cole did a few solos. There were dancers and bell ringers and David McCullough told some stories about American Christmas Carols. I didn't know that O Little Town of Bethlehem was an American carol.

Phillips Brooks was an Episcopalian minister who preached in Philadelphia and Boston. While he was serving at Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, Phillips had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land and on December 24, 1865 attended a Christmas Eve Service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The service lasted for five hours and was full of songs of praise to God. Brooks was moved by the opportunity to celebrate with other Christians so near the location of Jesus’ birth. Three years later Phillips decided to compose an original song for the children of his church to sing for the annual Christmas program. The thrilling experience in Bethlehem inspired him to write a five-stanza hymn. He gave the lyrics to his organist and asked him to compose a tune. The organist, Lewis Redner, was uninspired and struggled to compose a melody. On the night before the program, he woke with the music flooding his soul. He wrote the tune down and then returned to bed.

None of us have ever been to the Spoken Word before and it was a wonderful and heart warming experience and a beautiful way to start off the Sabbath. I'm glad a member of my parents Ward called last night to offer us the tickets.

Sophie Claus : )

Hy, Anne, and Sophie and GG Faye came over for Sunday dinner and I had to get a pic of little girl with the Santa hat. She kept trying to pull it off while I was taking the picture and I'd say "Wait!" and she'd pause for a second and start to tug on it again... She loved the snowman and knew his nose was a carrot :) Such a smart cookie!

Festival of Trees

Me, Kimmi, Niki, Cari, Tricia, & Sara

This was the only pic we got of Mary Ann

On Saturday I went to the Festival of Trees with a few friends. It's been years since I've been and it was, as the name infers, very festive : ) Our group got split in two; one group (Kimmi, Mary Ann, Sara, and I) went pretty fast and the other group (Niki, Cari, & Tricia) took their time. I'm glad we had both types in our posse so everyone got to enjoy the event "their way".

We made it through half of the trees before Kimmi and I decided that they were all starting to look the same. Not that all weren't beautiful, fun, and very creative! Sara said she'd never be creative enough to do trees like this, to which I responded "Oh I would! I just don't have the resources!"

The Grinch in the act of stealing Christmas!

I was parched and Kimmi was starving so we headed off to concessions and the Candy Shoppe to get fudge....sad, when we got there we found out the fudge sold out at 5pm!!!! Lame! So I got some divinity for my Mom and Dad and 2 chocolate covered cinnamon bears for myself. We walked over to hear some kids playing the violin and they were just finishing up, but my dogs were killing me so we sat for a minute anyway. As we were getting ready to leave we were almost run down by bagpipers and drummers who were lining up so we stayed to listen to them play as they marched around the perimeter of the expo center. I just love the bagpipes! Tonight was so much fun and it helped up my Christmas spirit!

Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater

Last night I took my Mom to see Glenn Beck's "The Christmas Sweater-Road to Redemption". It was excellent! He did a one man performance of his book and then had a discussion with four people who had been affected by the message in the book. One woman lost her only child and husband in a car accident, another is a breast cancer survivor, one man is a recovering heroine addict and the other man was on the verge of committing suicide. If you haven't read the Christmas Sweater, I highly recommend it! (I feel like I'm on Reading Rainbow! tee hee) It has such a wonderful message about the Atonement and how we can make it through life's many storms.