Christmas

This year was a Sadler Christmas. Two of my sisters couldn't make it but My oldest sister who has 3 kids was able to come up. We had Christmas at my parents new house and since we don't live too far, we decided to head over in the morning rather than trying to figure out a sleeping arrangement there. So we headed over after the kids woke up and then we had to wait over on one side of the house for everyone to finish setting up all the presents. John's Parents came over too and brought a ton of presents.

We hung out for awhile, ate oranges, played and got breakfast in the oven. My battery died before we even got over to the other side of the house to do the stockings and open presents. (I did bring spare batteries but they didn't work either) I tried to get the pictures from my Dad and John's Dad. But they turned out fuzzy and John's dad was doing mostly video and I don't have the software to take the pictures out. I should be getting more from my sister who I know got some really cute pictures. But until then here is what I've got.

Christmas Eve we had Michael write a note to Santa (Ok John wrote it, but it LOOKS like Michael did) and we put it on the tree for him.

It says, "Dear Santa, Mommy, Daddy, Michael and Vivian are going to Grandma's house for Christmas. Please put the presents at their house. Love, M,D,M,V" And then John told Michael to draw a picture of Grandma's house so that Santa would know where to go.
Here is all the presents I wrapped Christmas Eve for the kids and all our family. The littler ones in the middle are the ones Michael picked out at the Dollar store for his cousins. He even helped me wrap them.
This is my mom's Christmas Tree.

WIth ALL the presents.

And more presents. You can't even see the ones that were behind the gate. The Food Max bags are all the stuff John's parents brought over.

Then here is all the stockings. Yeah it was a pretty crowded Christmas, but it was so awesome to share it with so much family. We sure missed my other sisters and their husbands though.

Then here is the line-up ready to go open presents. We were trying to get them in age order: Katie, Vivian, Michael, Matthew and Rebecca.

And then my camera died. But know that they all had a ton of fun. Rebecca and Matthew like playing with their toys as they open them and Michael just wanted to open presents. I am glad they were distracted though because if they hadn't been, they were old enough to figure out that Michael got way more presents than them because he had 2 sets of Grandparents there (plus parents that went a little overboard).

I thought it would be fun to see our Christmas last year which was a Bowmen Christmas, and harder times for all of us. These are all the presents for Michael, Vivian and cousin Abby. (Most of them we got for free)
Plus these 3 toys from Santa.
Vivian wasn't too into the whole present thing then, I can't believe how little she looks. And in this picture, she TOTALLY looks like Michael.
Michael also grew up a lot this year. I can't believe he's almost 4.
Then this present came a few days after Christmas. We told him Santa forgot it so he sent it in the mail.
Hope you enjoyed the flashback. And I'll try to get the pictures from my sister soon.