We knew Christmas was going to be different this year with both of our families being so far away, so we planned to make the most of what technology has to offer and Skype present opening with them. Thomas has "chatted" with them several times on the iPad using FaceTime and Skype, but we thought it might be better if we could make it work on the much bigger TV. Turns out that our TV has a proprietary webcam, so we had to buy that specific one. Which is of course not available anywhere in Anchorage or on Amazon. Amazingly, I found it on ebay and even managed to get it here on time. Go me!

We did test runs with both families and Thomas ran away from the viewing area both times. So I didn't have much hope for success with present opening, but it went great! We chatted with my family first and the first present he opened was met with cheering on the other end of the chat, so he was all about getting more cheers out of people. He was a total ham for both families.

But in typical toddler fashion, he was much more interested in the bowls I got from my mom than most of his toys. He threw his legos in there and spent most of the evening "mixing" in the bowl. It was pretty adorable.

But the best gift exchanged by far was Matt's idea. He decided to buy our nephews harmonicas - all three of them. Which they opened while we were chatting and proceeded to play them all at once. Matt of course thought it was hysterical and was playing conductor for them from 4000 miles away. I would say we're in for payback next year, but there isn't much musical they could give Thomas that Matt wouldn't love as well.

To truly appreciate the symphony, we had JoAnna send us the video she took. Because we knew someone had to have taken a video! It was awesome!

It was a Merry Christmas Eve for all and all were ready for a good night. Well except the people with three harmonicas in the house... ;)