Steph Peters 
The hardest part of the Holidays is being 2,000 miles away from all our family in Wisconsin. Thank goodness for Skype! We were able to Skype with all our family and open gifts with them.
Round 1 – Bryce’s Christmas gift to us was taking a nap at just the right time so we could enjoy king crab legs. It was nice having that moment just the two of us. We actually got to open all our gifts to each other before he woke up from his nap. Round 2 began as opened Bryce’s gifts from us and Santa. Round 3 – Skyping with my family at my Mom’s house. It felt like we were there being passed around watching my siblings open gifts while they were drinking and laughing. There were of course times where we were set down and had to yell thru webcam “hey I’m looking at the ceiling, where’s Mom opening gifts?!”
Christmas Day we got set up on Skype and started with my Dad’s house. Round 4 started with my Grandma’s gifts and then my dad’s handmade Christmas cards. My siblings and I showed off each others by holding them up close to the webcam and laughing at the old pictures he put in the cards. We then exchanged gifts and tried our best to show off each item thru the Skype camera.
The final round, number 5, was with my husband’s family including his grandparents who had never skyped before. They thought it was so great we were in the living room with them, one way or another. We were passed around the room, opening gifts, and of course right before we opened the big gift to Bryce, he feel asleep in my lap. So we took video of him later playing with the gift. We made it thru Christmas and got to see all our family while we stayed on our couch. Next year, we plan on going home for Christmas and will have to travel thru snow to see them all, but it will be worth it to be able to give hugs and enjoy dinner and drinks together.
