"I'll Be Home For Christmas"

....so said the Hadley Children. "Tis music to our ears" said Garth and Joanne. "Let the celebration begin!!" Brandon, Ryan, Jessica, Camron, Rebecca, Danielle, Matt, Ethan, Jason, Marissa and our two cats, Alice and LuLu. Oops! Let's not forget Brandon's dog Trinity. Why, she was here too. Oh, the joy of family! What more could we ask? If I keep this rhyme going it could become quite the task. (Enough I say...) :D

Danielle, Matt and Ethan join us first. Summer sausage, crackers, cheese, Christmas treats (some received from friends and some we prepared), 7-UP and sherbet are our traditional Christmas Eve meal. The smiles are in anticipation of eating our "spread".



Ryan and Jessica join us after their evening candlelight service at church. They're not here for long because Santa needs to finish up a few things over at their place."See you tomorrow morning at 9:00 sharp for opening gifts".

Here we are reading our traditional bedtime Christmas stories. First up was "Frosty the Snowman" (I always sing this one to the family as I turn the pages of the book. Some stories were never meant to be read. Sorry kids). Next we enjoyed "The Polar Express" read by Garth followed by "Twas the Night Before Christmas" courtesy of Danielle. We save the real Christmas story for last... the story of Christ's birth from the Bible. Garth always reads this one to us.

Here is Danielle reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

( A note of interest- not long after this picture was taken she and Matt had a bit of news to share. Check her blog for the details :)


Christmas morning. It looks as though Santa has paid us a visit. Wake up everyone!!!
Times 'a wastin!
Finding the pickle ornament (a German tradition we started for fun long ago) is the first thing we do. Everyone but Garth and I line up at the kitchen doorway. 3-2-1- GO! The tree has yet to fall over but every year we wonder the way everyone is digging around on it all at once. And the winner is....Ryan- AGAIN. (He is so good at this the other kids make him get at the back of the line). The pickle prize? A $5.00 gift card to Carl's Jr. Yummo.

Ethan gets to open the first present while sitting on Grandpa's lap. He's not quite sure what all the excitment is about. "Maybe I'll just feel of the wrapping paper rather than open it".

Ethan carrying his new rubber ball around. Once he got something he liked it was hard to get him interested in opening anything else. Such a sweetheart!

Relief washes over Marissa's face as she discovers there's more to her box than 3 packages of Cottonelle (sometimes you have to be tricky with the packaging when you have older kids). "Yea! Seinfeld Scene It!!!"

After opening gifts and eating a yummy breakfast casserole prepared by Garth it's time to try out the new games everyone got.

Jessica and Cameron.

Who's the horse at the window? Wait a minute! It's only Trinity looking for Brandon. He had to run somewhere for a few minutes and she was missing him. True devotion for her master.


Ryan and Jessica didn't get Camron and Rebecca until early afternoon. Time to open gifts again. The best part of Christmas is watching the kids excitement over their gifts.

By this point the rest of us are ready to sit back and relax a bit.

Around 6:00 we sat down to Christmas dinner. We had ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, steamed sugar snap peas, black olives and sparkling cider. Later we enjoyed 4 different kinds of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for dessert. No calories I'm sure. LOL.

Jason's girlfriend Makenzie Johnson came over later so they could exchange Christmas gifts. This is the quilt she made for him to take with him on his mission. He was thrilled!

HO HO HO

Merry Christmas to everyone! We send our best wishes your way.

O Christmas Tree(s)

For the first time ever we had 3 Christmas trees this year. And each of them hold their own special memories...

Tree #1
Our main tree- filled with all the ornaments we have collected over the years. I would have to say my very favorite are the assorted homemade ones the kids have given us. These are so precious, especially the ones with their pictures glued on them. The fact that they are made with macaroni, half styrofoam balls, satin balls with globs of dried paint, felt and even paper just adds to their value in a mothers eyes. I will cherish them forever and despite Danielle's protests over her paper angel being displayed, she will be seeing it every year until I'm too old and feeble to put up a tree. So there Danielle!!! :)

Tree #2
This was bought by my sister for our dad to enjoy when he was at the V.A. hospital. He passed away 11 years ago this past November. This one's for you Dad! We miss you.



Tree #3
I keep this tree up year round in the corner of our dining room. I decided to designate it as "my Mom's tree". Around the base is the felt tree skirt my mom made for our tree when we were little. Everything down to the lights are things she has given to us. The icicles and tinsel are from a whole different era along with the tiny satin candy stripe balls I still remember from my childhood. Everything else is ornaments she has made over time. I know she has spent countless hours working on all the tiny details of each ornament. Thank you mom for all the love you put into each and every stitch- this tree definately takes me "back in time". Here is just a sample of the one's she has created.........

Notice the black eye on the third caroler from the left? This girl must be a bit of a tomboy when she's not singing (which would also explain the slingshot sticking out of her pocket). :D

Three trees = 3 times the sweet Christmas memories of years gone by.

Artic Blast 2008

What an amazing last couple of weeks we've had. According to the news, this is the most snow we have had in the month of December since 1968. That is 40 years! I'm not sure exactly how many inches we got at our house...we finally quit measuring but let's just say it was a whole lot of snow. Approximately somewhere between 12 and 15 inches. For those of you not from the northwest, this is very rare. We typically don't get snow at all and if we do it is minimal. Marissa got a whole extra week off for Christmas break. :) Here are a few pictures to help us remember what it was like.

Jason and Garth shoveling Carl's driveway next door.

Just about every time it started snowing this is where you would find me. I was determined to keep our driveway clear so we could get the car up it.

A warm home is a blessing to be thankful for. We never lost power but thousands of others did.

The Mustang was grounded to the driveway since it can't handle a wet road (much less an icy one) without the back end slipping out.

The trampoline provided us with our only view of "ground level".

Snow drifts up the sides of the trees out back.

My "dwarf Korean lilac tree" (I just planted it this past summer. I hope it survives the snow and ice.)

Lunch out back anyone?

Poor little birds and squirrels....how will they ever get a drink from that?!!

Marissa walking Nando at Paula Jean Park.

While we were outside this lady passed us on the street. How FUN!!

A close up I took with Marissa's camera. I am thankful for all the beautiful snow we have enjoyed. Yes, it's been a bit treacherous but in my opinion the tradeoff was well worth it.
Until next time...(and let's hope it isn't 40 years away).

I'll Miss You Two

Today was a sad day for me. It was the last time I get to watch Kylin. His family including grandparents and aunts and uncles are all moving to Idaho, though some will be heading to Utah for college. The move is job related and necessary but just the same, it is hard to see this family leave. Also, I will no longer be watching Nina after the 5th of January. This will bring me down to only two siblings who come three half days a week. This will give me an opportunity to destress a bit and have more time for myself. That part I am looking forward to but I will miss Nina and Kylin. They have been like two peas in a pod. Here are a few pictures I took today to help me remember them in the years to come...

Goodbye sweet Kylin! I will miss you more than you could possibly know. And soon I will be saying goodbye to you Nina. You are such a sweet girl and I will miss you too. I hope I will be able to keep in touch with you two over the years as you grow up. I love you both!!