Christmas Exchange

We knew that we were going to be able to talk to Kyle tonight via Skype and everyone at our house was going to be home. The last couple of times when we had talked to Kyle in Korea, either Daryl had to work late or William had something going on at school. We had planned on talking to Kyle at 4:30 pm our time (his time 7:30 am the next day) so Daryl was trying to hurry to get the door painted on the Roadhouse. He ended up putting on a three of coats of white paint today on both sides of the door and he said that it really could use another coat of paint. We’ll have to do that next year if it needs another coat.

Daryl painting the door today

I was busy working on Christmas candy today. I wanted to see what my new caramel recipe tasted like when I dipped them in chocolate and I was happy how it turned out. I also made some other candies, and I’m planning on finishing them up tomorrow. Even though it looks like I should have just about everything there is to make candy – I needed a couple of things that I didn’t have.

Setting up for making candy today

So when it was time to talk to Kyle we decided to unwrap our Christmas exchange presents. We started the tradition of exchanging names when Kyle was little because he would get so excited that it was Christmas eve, he could hardly stand it. He would get so worked up, that we exchanged gifts the night before so he had something to open. He was so little at the time and we’ve been doing it ever since. It’s a nice tradition for our family and even though the day that we open our gifts has changed this year – it still is a lot of fun. Kyle opened up his Christmas gifts that was sent to him also tonight. His flight leaves around 8:30 am on Dec 24th, which means he’ll have to leave his apartment around 5:00 to get to the airport and through Customs in time to head to Rome. We are planning on talking to him on Dec 23rd – his time midnight our time 9 am to wish him a Merry Christmas and to see him before he takes off for his vacation.

Opening our exchange gifts

Our family picture

The night ended up with William submitting his request for his dorm room for college.  So even with some of the changes that our family has gone through, or will be going through in near future – it’s nice to spend time together to share some of our family traditions.