technology these days

this past weekend we celebrated "christmas" with the padmos family with a gift exchange. our tradition is to draw names between the kids and grandkids and then open them when the den dulks arrive in california from michigan. we had a bit of a dilemma this year as the den dulks aren't making a trip out to california, but meeting us all in st. lucia. so we had to get a bit creative this year for our gift exchange--in comes the christmas web cam!

all those in california gathered around beppe and pake's computer while the den dulks gather around theirs in grand rapids and via the web cam we watched everyone open each others gifts. it was chaotic, but not necessarily the same chaos that occurs when six grandchildren (now seven with gerrit) open presents in beppe and pake's living room leaving behind ribbons, boxes, tissue, and opened toy boxes. check out the photo of arie opening his gift in california as ellie watches in michigan.

we even got great-grandma padmos talking on the web cam. if it boggles our heads, i sure would like to know what is going on in her mind. on the right is a picture of grandma padmos talking to ellie, abel, and peri.

gerrit enjoyed his first "christmas." of course, he probably enjoyed eating the tissue, chewing on the ribbons and climbing in the boxes a little more this year. he is looking forward to another web cam christmas this coming weekend as we exchange gifts with the sharps and oma and grandpa in colorado.