Christmas!

Our last Christmas in Germany was such a great one.  We got to see lots of fun markets, enjoy holiday parties and spend the break with a good friend.  Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was just as awesome.

Our tradition on Christmas Eve is to let the kids open their gifts from each other.  This is what my brother and I did growing up, and it has carried over.  This year we had a theme: books.  Not just books, but books from the school book fair.  They picked out books for each other, and it was fun to see what they thought each other would like.

The calm before the storm.

Light sabers in stockings!

Santa brought Sam and me some awesome aprons.

Cooper's favorite thing to play with are his stuffed animals.  Santa knew this, and brought him some new ones to play with.

Annie is in love with the "I Spy" books, so she got an "I Spy" game for her DS.

And Noah loves the TV show "Wipe Out" so he got the game for his DS.

It's blurry, but she's still cute.

Grandma Hodson made each of the kids new blankets.

Sam gave us cups from Pete's favorite restaurant at Fort Leaonardwood...

Along with these tiles, because we love the show Psych.  The pineapple is like the symbol for the show.

This was my gift to Pete.  It's the painting that hangs in the visitors center at the Luxembourg American Military Cemetery.  Both times we visited the cemetery this year, Pete commented on how much he loved it.  So I did some major searching and got one.  I love it as much as he does.  

We finished the day with the missionaries at our house to call their parents, and we ate lots of sandwiches and finger food.

OK, this was the real end to the day.