Michigan Madsen Christmas

2013 Christmas happened in Michigan! Thanks to mine and Matt's sister's pregnancies, the Snow family couldn't get together as planned this year. So instead, my whole family ended up deciding, one by one, to join us out here. That's how we lure them in...one by one.

Upon arriving in this snow globe, there was immediate snuggling, Rock Band, and controversial political discussion, now that Steph's boyfriend is around to argue with Matt. I find it incredibly entertaining. 

The next morning started with a good attempt at a work out sesh, but somehow ended up as a wrestling match.

The men got right to work the next morning framing out the basement. Teague actually knows what he's doing, and Matt was excited to have so much help getting started on this enormous project.

While they did a few solid days of work, the rest of us stayed busy doing our own kind of work -- reading, snuggling little boys, doing our nails, belting out Lady Gaga music on the piano...

...and doing an insane amount of COOKING. It takes a lot of work to feed ten full-sized people plus two kids three times a day. We went out to Buffalo Wild Wings once, and occasionally stopped for fast food, but mostly we ate at home. And mostly Mimi was the cook. I will say though, I don't think I washed a single dish that whole week. Kitchen fairies are the best.

Most of them got to use the hot tub at night. It was frigid outside of course, but that didn't stop Julia from jumping out of the tub and running through the snowy back yard to our neighbor's swing set for a good ride down the icy slide. In her wet swimsuit. The things teenagers will do for money.

My favorite part of the above pictures:  Steven's crochet work and hair styles. If you can't tell, it was a pretty full house. Steven literally slept under the piano, if that gives you an idea.

On the 23rd, some of us took the boys to the Santa House. It's a big deal in Midland, and apparently everyone else had the same idea that day because we waited OUTSIDE for TWO HOURS to get in. It was so freezing and miserable, but Josh would not settle for just sending Santa a text message instead. He got to run around in the snow with his friend Luke most of the time anyway, so at least he wasn't whiny and bored. 

Josh is still pretty Santa shy, but for some reason he still really wants to go every year.

That night, I made my whole family drive to Freeland for the amazing Christmas lights show. Again, this was something the boys had been waiting to do all month, so I'm glad we went, even if I had to pull some grown-up teeth to get everyone to come.

The next day was Christmas Eve. In the afternoon, everyone went to the church and we tried out my new volleyball net. We also played some very competitive rounds of knock out.

That night, we had our traditional Christmas Eve program, in which everyone has to participate with a Christmasy talent or presentation. Those four on the left sang some hymns a capella in four parts while Steven beat boxed. I helped them a little on the piano, but my talent was reciting "Twas the Night Before Christmas" poem while the boys tried to act it out. Josh played "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" on the piano, my mom and Julia played a "Sleigh Ride" duet while Jude rang the bells, Teague demonstrated some toilet paper survival techniques, and my dad read the Christmas story from the Bible.

Then the Elves rang our doorbell and we found the Christmas pajamas they left for everyone on the doorstep.

We left out cookies and milk for Santa and got those kids into bed. Everyone else scrambled to wrap and finish last minute gifts, soak in the hot tub, or fall asleep by the fire like me.

In the morning, everyone got up to see the boys' reaction to what Santa left. We'd never had Christmas in our own home before, so this was special. They got exactly what they had asked Santa for:  a Ninja Turtle Lights and Sounds Sword for Josh, and a Ninja Turtle Shellraiser for Jude. I love that they still want to play with every present as they open it.

Teague and Steph made us the most delicious crepes for Christmas breakfast. And yes, that's how Teague's pants always look.

And I should just probably mention, in the spirit of Christmas and everything, that I really really love my weird sisters.

The next day was our last day in Michigan before heading to Chicago, so some people finally got brave enough to play out in the snow with the boys. There were ice chunks everywhere, and the snow wasn't good for building snowmen, but they ran around and played games anyway.

(Steph was doing my hair that day, so we were kind of stuck inside.)

That night, we drove to the Tridge to show them Midland's pride and joy, and then stopped to play at the church gym again. Some of us needed to get our wiggles out.

The next morning, we packed up and left for Chicago. Here is our failed attempt at a good family picture in the driveway.

After six hours in the car, we checked in at our hotel downtown and put the cars away for a couple days. We walked to Giordano's for dinner, but they were going to make us wait for over two hours, so we settled for the 45 minute wait at Gino's instead. The pizza was not as good this time, sadly, but some of us did get to write on the walls, so that was fun.

...Even though Julia can't even spell her own last name.

Also pictured above are a couple shots from our favorite Mexican restaurant, Nuevo Leon. Melissa and Mike were the only ones who came with us, but it was faster that way and awesomely delicious as usual.

These cute boys just love hotels. They were so happy to have Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast, and to see the ice chunks in the river from our window. It's the little things.

We had one full day in Chicago. That morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast on our way to the Cloud Gate, a.k.a. The Bean. There was no shortage of picture taking there.

Let it be known that Josh did not approve of Teague taking the picture instead of being in it.

It was really nice to have all these helpers to tote my kids around the city. After wandering around Millennium Park, the boys and I were tired and tried to nap at the hotel while the others shopped on the Magnificent Mile. Later, Steven and Julia took them swimming.

That night, Grandma and Melissa stayed with the boys while the rest of us went to the Bulls game. Matt got the tickets for Dow's suite, so we had lots of space to ourselves. Looks fancy, eh? It ended up being a horrible game, but I had fun.

That being our last night, we all piled up in the same room to snuggle and chat until late. The next morning people had to take separate vehicles to the airport, and it was so rushed that I missed some goodbyes. Not okay. Next time I'll try to be less scared of those pushy airport ushers and stay until I get my hugs!

It may have taken me a full week of doing NOTHING to recover from all these visitors...but it was worth it.