Christmas 2008

Hopefully Daddy will get to spend a Christmas with Nathan sometime before he grows up and moves out. I know Steve wishes he could have been around for this Christmas, but I don't really think he was too upset about missing last Christmas. He had a feliz Navidad in Spain last year, courtesy of the Air Force.

Despite the fact that Daddy wasn't around for Christmas again, Nathan enjoyed himself. We opened presents on Christmas Eve after church. He didn't really know what was going on, he just noticed all these new toys appearing one after another. He didn't want to have anything to do with unwrapping them. He had so many presents that he actually got bored with opening them, so we finished up on Christmas afternoon.

Nathan opened his stocking first and he would have been perfectly content with only receiving the stocking stuffers and nothing else. Steve got Nathan hooked on shredded beef jerky that comes in a little can like smokeless tobacco. Nathan began liking it when he had very few teeth because it was like it was already chewed for him. Anyways, he received a bunch of cans of beef jerky and he immediately wanted to begin eating it. He also got a Pez dispenser, which was a pretty huge hit, and a can of fried onions (another favorite treat). He got some other more typical stocking stuffer type presents, but those weren't exciting to him. In hindsight, we probably could have gotten away with spending about $20 on him this Christmas and he would have been just as happy.

You can tell how serious he is about his beef jerky by the look on his face.
Nathan was forced to open more gifts when he really just wanted to jump on the chair.

This is a toy that Daddy and Nathan can enjoy together.

When Nathan got a present he liked, he wanted it opened right away.Grandma and Grandpa got Nathan a Thomas the Train set.
Nathan received some train pieces from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Tanya and Aly and Emily that he can add to his new train set.
I'm not sure who enjoyed the train set more, Uncle Joe or Nathan.
We made sure Mace and Hank had presents to open, as well.

On Christmas morning, we all got together at Tim, Amanda, and Cousin Emma's house for a brunch. We did a little more gift exchanges and enjoyed a ton of great food. We got to hang out with family so it was a pretty good Christmas.

Nathan and Cousin Emma presented Great Grandma Gerken with the plate they painted.

Nathan's eyes lit up when he opened a five pack of Hot Wheels from Cousin Emma.
We had perfect Christmas weather.



Nathan had fun playing with Emma .


Nathan and Emma giving each other "five."

Laura and Emma
Uncle Joe had to check out Cousin Emma's Christmas gifts, too.

Family picture minus Steve. I think Steve plans his absences so that he's not present for any pictures linking him to the Gerken/Hill/Haggerty bunch! :)
As you can see, we are one wild and crazy bunch when we all get together.
This wasn't a Christmas present, but it's one of Nathan's favorite toys. He dumps out the clothes, sticks it over his head, and runs around the house laughing hysterically.