Christmas Memories

Here it is Christmas morning and my cute kids are still asleep ( except Tyler of course). Libby & Zack were up until almost midnight. They were talking on the computer to their Grandma & Grandpa Peterson (who are on a mission in Denmark) and when grandpa said, "you better get to bed before Santa comes." Zack was very worried and for the first time yelled, " Hurry! Let's go to bed!" Unfortunately, Steve & I were up until 3 am for the second night in a row, but Christmas is ready and I can't wait to see their faces when they wake up.

Well, as I was feeding Tyler this morning I couldn't help but feel so blessed for my family and all my fun memories growing up. I'm still on a high from our fun time last night....I love uncontrollable laughter through tears. Hey, John....what word do you think of when you are describing Mexico? I better not get myself started again.....

I was thinking how great my mom is and how I don't know how she does it all. She does dinner Christmas Eve, we go for Norwegian pancakes on Christmas morning & then we have another dinner that night. Of course, her house always looks cute and cozy with decorated tables, the food is all ready to eat when you get there & of course the kids can't wait for present time ( I go shopping with her....they have reason to be excited!) Anyways it got me thinking what a great heritage of people I do come from & how much I love and miss both sets of my grandparents.

This is a picture of my Mom & Dad on their wedding day. On the right side of my parents is my Grandma & Grandpa Steen and my Grandma & Grandpa Nelson are on the left side of my parents. I love this picture!

I will start with Grandma & Grandpa Mo ( my dad's parents).....Where do I begin? They still amaze me with their strength and courage. They lived in Norway during WWII when Hitler was taking over all of Europe. They experienced some scary times and sold everything they owned to immigrate to America from Norway when they were in their forties and my dad was 6 years old. They got here not knowing any English and made a great life for themselves here. They were very hard workers (which they sure passed on to my dad) & learned English, found jobs, bought a home & were always grateful for all they had. Well this brings me to my Christmas Eve Memories!! Which of course we celebrated with Norwegian customs & still do!

CHRISTMAS EVE

• Grandma Mo's cooking...Norwegian meatballs, mashed potatoes & cauliflower soup!
• Oranges (these were always special to my grandma because during the war their food was rationed and they never got fresh fruit.)
• root beer & 7-up
  
• bingo
• singing Christmas songs around the piano
• new pajamas from Grandma & Grandpa
• rice pudding with strawberry sauce
• playing with my cousins...I couldn't wait to see Mandie.
• Santa Clause with his long white beard wearing a Norwegian sweater and socks. Knocking at the door & passing out all the presents.
  

CHRISTMAS DAY AT GRANDMA & GRANDPA NELSONS

• My grandma's angel food cake & rice pudding
• lots and lots of presents ( I'm sure I get my shopping gene from my Grandma!)
• lots of cousins
  
• sleeping in the basement when we lived in Green River & Vernal. We were always excited because grandma would buy yummy cereal like fruit loops for us in the morning.)
• My cousin Ethan shoving all the candy in his pockets and my grandpa yelling instead of "Alvin!" it was "Ethan!" and him running with his stash of goods!
• Lots of love and laughter!!

Well Libby is now up! So it is time to go make some new memories!!!!