Five Favorite Christmas Traditions

1. Dad's Egg Nog- We certainly have no "nog" in the Dean home, but my dad does the BEST version of this classic holiday drink. He puts a premade egg nog in the blender with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla and tops it with a dash of nutmeg. Creamy heaven!
2. Christmas Eve- My church has the most amazing Candlelight Service. It is so special to see all of the old friends that have returned home to visit family. My favorite part is a new edition to the service in the last couple of years. As the crowd is singing Silent Night to end the service, it starts to snow!!! Really! Well, Texas snow at least...
3. Papa's Menagerie- My dad's father was a Christmas NUT! He used to wake us up at 5 o'clock in the morning! He also collected all types of moving Christmas toys. Some sing, some dance and others just do cool toy things, but he had them all out for us to play with. Since my grandfather's passing, my dad does it. We add something to it every year and it so special to see Caroline playing with the same toys I played with.
4. Cooking with Mom- My mom always made a huge deal about Christmas cooking. We would pour over recipes for weeks in advance and pick the ones we liked best. They never came out like the picture, but we made a lifetime of memories. Again, this is something I have enjoyed doing with my daughter now!
5. Our Movies- On Christmas Eve (or whatever night closest to that we can all get together- I know you all undertsand!) we eat tamales and watch It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. We sing the songs and quote the lines. It is such a good thing that no one but immediate family is there. We are probably all so annoying. Occasionally i catch Chris looking at us funny, but he will have to get used to it. Wait- it is our 9th Christmas together, maybe he will always look at us funnny! These are honestly my favorite Christmas moments.

Congratulations

I have three events in the lives of dear friends that I would like to celebrate!!

1. Brad Gentry graduating with his Masters from t.u.

2. Precious Robert Bryan Sloan IV being dedicated on December 9th at church

3. Laura Dean graduating with her Masters in something about being healthy

Pictures from Laura's Party

Cool Gift Idea

http://www.createsticksandstones.com/Default.aspx

I'm not sure if you can get these by Christmas, but this is such a cool website that my cousin showed me! This lady took pictures of letters that she saw occurring around her (in a window or door or in nature). You can pick which picture you want and they put it in a frame spelling out your name. Here is what mine looks like...

Today is actually the Friday Fave 4, but because it still has the "F" thing going it counts right?

The other day, Amy was saying, " I think us girls are like a cake. Each of us is an ingredient that has to do with our personalities." (Amy is the creative one...) So here are my Favorite Four cake ingredients.

1. Amy- Amy is the nuts. She is the bohemian, academic one. She adds the special "crunch" to the group.



2. Laura- Laura is the icing. She's sweet and fun and the part of the cake that people always ask for extra of.


3. Emily- Emily is the flour and sugar. The are the basics of the cake. The "staples." They make the base that the rest of the cake can stand one.

4. Shavon- Shavon is the sprinkles. She adds color and fun to the cake. Seriously, isn't everything more fun with sprinkles on it?

Random comment from one of my kids...

I asked who is pictured on the quarter. Maya answered, "Uhhh, George.... Clooney!"

Here it is- My Top 5 Favorite Christmas Movies

1. White Christmas- This is certainly a Dean family classic! The music and dancing is to die for!! I wish you could see my sister and I while we are watching it! There is one point, right after they sing Count Your Blessings, where we stop and Dad makes egg nog. I will go into detail on that in a future post! Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney sing hits like White Christmas, Sisters, The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing, and MORE! This movie also has some of the best dancing I have ever seen. Vera Ellen and her 80 pound frame do things that seem physically impossible!
2. It's a Wonderful Life- This movie is special to me for so many reasons! One of them is that Jimmy Stewart reminds me so much of my dad. That "always have to do the right thing" thing is so like my dad. He also yells "Yeah!" like Jimmy does about 200 hundred time during the Christmas season. I love the scene where the gym floor opens at the dance and they all end up dancing in the pool. I know so many ridiculous pieces of trivia from this movie, but I won't bore you with that at this time!
3. Miracle on 34th Street- I prefer the new one, but the old one is great also. I like it when the mother brings her daughter to see Santa and she says that the little girl is deaf, but just wanted to see him. When he speaks in sign language to her, good grief, I just lose it! It makes me cry every time!
4. Christmas Vacation- It has nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas and it is certainly NOT a family movie, but it gives me my best Christmas belly laugh. A few of my favorite things are the lights on the house, when Clark gets stuck in the attic, the crazy Aunt that wraps up her cat and says the Pledge of Allegiance for her prayer and when they go get the Christmas tree. We could be here all day quoting one liners, but again I will spare you!
5. Small One- I don't know how many of you will know this one but it is a Disney cartoon about a little boy who takes his old donkey to town to sell. He looks and looks for a suitable owner that will love him and take good care of him. He eventually meets Joseph. It is such a sweet little story.

The Piano Man

Sing us a song, you're the Piano Man. Sing us a song tonight. Well, we're all in the mood for a melody and you've got us feelin' alright...

Last night, thanks to my favorite Emily, I went to the American Airlines Center to see Billy Joel in concert. I am not going to pretend that I am a real Billy Joel fan. Believe me, last night we saw REAL Billy Joel fans. But, it was a fabulous concert. I can generally appreciate any music that requires talent. He definitely has talent! His piano skills were spectacular! It seemed like something he still loved doing.

He started the night by playing the Yellow Rose of Texas, which I love because it shows that he actually knew what city he was in! I always wonder if musicians are on auto pilot when they go on concert tours. He also did these beautiful renditions of Christmas carols between his hits. People in the audience all began to sing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. One of my life dreams is that everyone around spontaneously bursts into song. This is probably as close as I can get to that. I had a wonderful time listening to the music and watching the freaks around us.

The only two things that sort of stressed me about the night were these- 1. we moved to better seats, so we were constantly worried that this big Usher-lady was going to tap us on the shoulder and throw us off of the top deck and 2. He didn't play Uptown Girl, which I have decided is because he is still madly in love with Christie Brinkley and can't sing it without dissolving into tears.

Anyway- Thanks Emily for the great experience!

Below are some pictures taken from my phone so pardon the poor quality.

Sorry for the delay...

I just finished reading the over 4,000 page Harry Potter series and let me just tell you- they were amazing!! Mind you, these are not for children in my opinion. So here are my five favorite things about Harry Potter. SPOILER ALERT- don't read if you don't want to know how things work out in the books!

1. Dumbledore- I love the endearing, elderly figure that guides the younger characters. He is like Galdalf from Lord of the Rings. I think my favorite thing about him is that, until the last book, you never really felt like you knew him, but you just trusted that he had Harry's best interest at heart. I sobbed when he died! I never dreamed that it was possible for him to die.


2. Quidditch- It was so funny to me that by the end I could have actually played a game of quidditch, if I had a flying broomstick of course. I liked how it took some of the intensity out of the books.


3. The Moving Photographs- I think it would be so neat to have a newspaper where the photos move and show what is actually happening or the have an album where the people wave at you. Love that!


4. Characters- Professor McGonagall- I love her spirit. She is so emotional but also large and in charge, Sirius Black- I was sad that he wasn't in the storyline longer. He was kind of like Harry's family and I liked the side of Harry it brought out to have someone he could be honest with, Neville Longbottom- He started off so dorky and unsure, but by the end he led the uprising at Hogwarts. I would have liked it if in the end he and Luna had gotten married.


5. Gadgets- The Sorting Hat-a hat that can read people's minds- how cool is that!, The Pensieve- I would love the chance to go back in time and look at other people's (or my own) experiences, Wands- Oh to be able to cast spells at a moments notice!, Invisibility Cloak- These would be so handy, but I would so misuse it because I am so nosey!

I could go on for days!! If you have read Harry Potter and love him the way I do, I want to hear your favorite parts (characters, scenes, whatever!)