Christmas Wrap Up a little late.

I'm finally having a chance to get to upload these pictures and recap our Christmas.

OK so here is our recap.

This is Christmas Eve before we went to church, I love Madison's smiles it's one of the few times it's an actual natural smile and not truly forced. Kaleigh took this picture, I thought she did a pretty good job, especially because I think Michael's camera has been a little finicky lately. So focusing is a little touchy, but she got it right. Had Madison kept the hat on we might have been in better shape, since some of her hair caught on fire during the candlelight service. Thanks Sarah for helping me get it out fast.
Jordan wanted to take one too because Kaleigh did, and she did a pretty good job too.

Christmas morning, was great, the kids actually slept in until 7:30 then we got up and had breakfast first (I wanted to make sure Jaden didn't melt down during the present opening) and then we opened our stockings first. I was really proud of the kids they didn't ask for much this year, their list was pretty short but still with all the relatives we have....let's just say I'm glad it's over. It's fun to watch them open things and get excited, but it's a real joy to hear them sing holy night through out the house, or hark the herald angels sing while they do other things.
I picked this little light wand up at Target for like $1.99 and put it in his stocking, it was like his favorite thing.
Of course being patient and waiting to open unwrapped presents was a challenge since there were only two adults and four children, and who told toy manufactures to put as many twist ties on presents as they possibly could.
We left Christmas morning to head to my parents in NY, I have to say even though we had to open presents than pack quickly there was only a little complaining, but they did great on the car ride and they more presents to look forward to, so that helped a bit.
The day after Christmas, we went to see our friends Matt and Theresa and their three beautiful children, and of course there for a few hours in the afternoon and neither of us took one picture. I was really kind of bummed about that, we only get to see them twice a year and I have known Matt and Theresa for years (I wont' say how many but it was when I was still working in NY before I moved to VA) they are the kind of friends you have for a life time easy and I love them all very much.
After we went to our friends we had dinner at my brother's house. My brother's condo is a little small, but we managed to fit 25 people (I thin it was that many) in his place. It was a little warm but filled with lots of love. Here is all of the people in my family that wore, red. (My grandmother, my cousin's wife Nelddie, me and the kids, my aunts Diana and Alice and my Nephew).
Here are all the people in my family that wore gray (my great aunt Pilar, my cousin Rodney, his son Brandon and wife Robin, their daughter Angel ..she is in between my two girls and they love to play together....my cousin Saida and her son behind her Robin and my uncle Earl.
Here are all the people who wore another color other than gray or red and No none of us decided to coordinate (my grandfather, my cousin Tommy, his daughter Melodie, my brother Dylan and my niece Isabella). If you're wondering where Michael is he took all of these pictures.
You can tell it was getting a little hot, because most of the kids (mine especially look like they've been through the mill...LOL..)
Here is Michael and I with all the kids and my niece and nephey Isabella and Yael....Madison wasn't having it. Can you see Kaleigh with her MP3 player, she got it for Christmas and when ever I told her she could listen to it, she did, of course I also had to tell her to turn it off sometimes as well, but she was good about it.
My little sweet heart, I wish I could see her more often.
On Sunday we braved the craziness of New York City and went down to see Rockefeller Center to see the big tree (the girls had been asking for two weeks if we would have the opportunity to do so and I said maybe) we'll we did along with the 8 million other people who happened to be there in the same small area. Oh and just for good measure we took my niece and nephew again. Thank goodness we had two other adults with my mom and my sister, while my step dad and brother drove the cars around because there was not a garage to be found anywhere that had parking available. But we did it, we kept our promise and now I can mark it off the list for the next five years.
Here are the windows of the building at Sac's Fifth Avenue (it was really pretty because the lights blinked in time to the music ...although you can't see that here and it was almost impossible to see anything)...did I mention how me Jordan, Kaleigh and Yael almost got smooshed by the crowd.
We got back on Monday evening after a very busy weekend and I swear this is how we all felt, a completely great trip, but very exhausting, now we are glad to be back home, while I catch up on laundry, figuring out where to put the toys and trying to get back into the swing of our normal life.