A magical time has come with candles and the scent of fir,
With a smile, laughter and good thoughts,
With cakes and gifts of all kinds
But most of all a time with family and friends,
And a merry Christmas this Christmas card brings.

(A click on the links below highlighted in blue will show news previously shown here on the website).

2015 will be the album as concludes a large chapter of Torben's working life and be the beginning of an independent and independent American life, without a lifeline or safety belt in terms of work. Pr 1. January 2016 begins Torben at his new workplace at Beumer in New Jersey, where he wants to have a home office here, and drive up to them every now and then, as well as traveling to customers wherever they may be.

This year has also been the beginning of a new chapter in Lise's working life, since she was offered a new job at our family dentist as a full-time employee with lots of new and bigger challenges in terms of work, and not least on the home front, where the girls now come home alone and have to take care of homework and minor chores themselves. It has and still is a new existence that we all do our best to get used to.

Visits from Denmark have broken all records this year!
But first we spent Easter in Phillidelphia, Pennsylvania, America's first capital. Sarah was still something between a tadpole and an egg, when we visited the Liberty Bell and the famous statue of Sylvester Stallone, The Rock, first time, since Trine and Mette could still both sit in a pram.

The month of May unfolded with a wonderful visit of the Thorning family, with which we took the open-air bath, enjoyed on the terrace, grilled, took a food course (Annette and Lise) Ford car exhibition (Bent and Torben), enjoyed a tourist day in DC, and not least got to shop…

The month of June was not so exciting, taking Lise in consultation with her breast doctor, chose to have the other breast removed. Lise found 3 knots, and after a mammogram and ultra scan it turned out, that one of them 3 was a precursor to a hormone dependent cancer, which under normal circumstances could remain so, and never develop into cancer, but with her previous cancer situation, there was no need to run any risks, so the decision was very easy, to have it removed.

July brought even more sun and summer and even more fun on the terrace, hiking in the woods with a game of dice in his back pocket (Lasse) in nice company from home with visit by the Kringel family. It was a nice distraction on top of a tedious operation. We also had a visit from the Jørgensen family and familien Delong.

The summer holidays were enjoyed to the fullest Cape Coral, Florida, thanks to our dear neighbors, Jack and Karen, who had an empty house standing and wanted someone to check it out. A super wonderful week with a private swimming pool in the backyard…
The month of August offered a week's holiday in our holiday paradise, The Smokey Mountains, Tennessee. This time we had lured our good neighbors the Bejna family (the Poles)with. A super beautiful and experience-rich holiday in nature, with a glimpse of bears, an all-time rafting trip on the river, in a rubber boat, and not least we introduced them to Tennessee's Moon shine…
And before we could blink our eyes, rang in the new school year, and Trine got busy with her sophomore year in high school and her freshman year at CTC (Carreer and Technolegy Center)as well as the Junior Varsity football team, and now a new challenge in athletics with pole vaulting and sprinting.

Mette started her final year in middle school – imagine she is a future freshman at high school in 2016…
And Sarah our little gift thief, has reached the 5th grade and thus also his last year in elementary school! Which actually means, that Torben and I also graduate from Elementary school after 10 years with children there!
Another highlight with a Danish visit, in the form of Torben's mother's cousin Asbjørn and Bente, with whom we also had fun and sightseeing.

Autumn crept up on us with a cold Halloween and Thanksgiving announced his arrival far too early (if you're kidding us), where we took a trip to Mainsville,Ohio
(which Trine once pictured her teacher in was Hawaii…)where we visited our friends, the Van Andel family.
The highlight for Mette, besides her birthday of course was quite clear, her test for her black belt in karate. She did that fantastically well, and is hereby now the 3. with a black belt in the family.
Visits from Denmark have indeed and fortunately not yet subsided, thus we have the great joy of being able to spend Christmas with grandma and grandpa and niece-cousin Kristine.

The magic is felt, the candles are lit, the scent of fir from the Christmas tree, and the smell of freshly baked cakes, the sound of laughter and good thoughts, and most of all, the time with the family that has just arrived, – now it's Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone, with the desire for an exciting, healthy and happy new year.
The Madsen family.