Christmas Eve Evening

Christmas Eve night we had my dad (aka Papa) and my brother (aka Uncle Phil) over for dinner and to open gifts.  After stuffing ourselves with delicious honey baked ham and all the side dishes to go wtih it we sat down to open presents.  Since Dave was unable to be here for Christmas we talked to him via skype and he watched the boys open their gifts and the boys watched him open his.  We all had to be quite strategic in just where to sit so Dave could see us, but not get too dizzy doing so!  The boys loved their gifts from Papa, Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave!  The Playmobil collection was added to, they each got some new clothes, Matthew has lots of fun Duplos and Joshua has a cool new marble maze.  The putting everything together process came next and soon after it was time for the boys to go to bed and the house to be cleaned up before Christmas morning soon arrived.

Matthew didn't quite know what to think about talking to Uncle Dave via the computer.

Joshua gets in on the conversation with Uncle Dave.  Dave even walked around with his laptop so we could have a skype tour of his apartment.

Matthew's new Duplo supermarket from Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave.

New Marble Maze for Joshua from Uncle Phil and Uncle Dave!

Clothes from Papa.

Joshua's Playmobil hospital from Papa!

Mocha getting in the middle of the action.

Matthew's Playmobil school from Papa!

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The boys thought Papa needed a bit of help opening his gifts.

New clothes for Papa.

Annual cologne and and gift card for Uncle Phil.

All the guys helping to put together the marble maze.

Stockings!

Due to wanting to "spread the wealth" so the speak the boys opened their stockings on Christmas Eve morning.  They were beyond excited to finally see their stockings full after seeing them empty for almost a month.  Joshua tore right into his stocking to see what surprises awaited him while Matthew took a much more laid back approach and once he discovered his new books Matthew had to be persuaded to find the rest of the goodies in his stocking.  The big hits of the year were their Angry Bird hats, books and electric toothbrushes that they could decorate with stickers!

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Gingerbread Houses

Last year I picked up gingerbread house kits on clearance thinking we might do them in January.  We never got to it so I packed them away with the Christmas stuff.  We pulled them out during Christmas break and the kids had a great time decorating them and having free reign of eating all the candy their little hands could touch while they decorated.  Joshua's friend Hunter was over the morning we worked on the gingerbread houses so they worked together to make a masterpiece.  

Hager Family Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas with the Hager family the weekend before Christmas.  It is so nice this way as we aren't rushed for time running from celebration to celebration and the gifts are spread out so the kids get to play with and enjoy their new toys before more come.  We had a great time as usual with many laughs.  It's so nice that the cousins are all at ages where the enjoy playing together and get along well, for the most part.  Thank you Dad and Mom Hager for a wonderful Christmas celebration!

Mom Hager opening up her necklace with all the grandchildren's birthstones (a total of 9).

 Walkie Talkie's for Dad H. for easier communication when "caravaning" camping with the boat and the trailer and for use to communicate between the boat and shore.

Christmas chaos.....kids everywhere!

 Matthew got a new forklift!

Excuse the blurry picture, but Joshua was very excited to open his HUGE present!

Joshua shares his new beanbag with Aiden.

 Just what Joshua wanted!

More Duplo for Matthew!