Sunday, December 28, 2008

Why, oh why.....

...didn't someone get me this for Christmas??



12/31 UPDATE: Sorry, I had to take down that ANNOYING video!!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Very Merry Christmas

Greetings everyone...it's been a while.

Like many of you, we here at Streaming Egans have been wrapped up (hah, get it? wrapped up?!) in all things Christmas for the last month or so. Between sending out cards, searching online and in stores for the perfect gifts, baking cookies, and wrapping presents, December's been a bit of a blur. Fortunately, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day slowed down to a perfect pace. I feel like I got to really enjoy the holiday this year, due in no small part to the fact that it was Matthew's first Christmas. While I did experience the last minute "Oh my God, I don't have enough gifts for him" that parents sometimes feel, I think everything worked out pretty close to perfect. It sounds cliched, but there's nothing quite like seeing Christmas through your child's eyes, and I can only imagine it just gets better every year. I'm looking forward to many, many more.

I hope you all had a blessed and Merry Christmas, or whichever holiday you celebrate at this time of year. Hard to imagine it's almost 2009.

I'll leave you with a few (OK, a lot) of photos from our Christmas celebrations. If I get around to it, I'll post a slideshow later of the pictures my brother took during our Bright Nights tour - they came out too great to not share.

Christmas Eve at Nanna and Poppy's




Christmas Day at our house















Christmas night....checking out the luminarias in West Side. This neighborhood of three streets all set out luminarias, typically on Christmas Eve, although it was postponed to Christmas night this year because of the rain. They represent a hope among Christian believers that the lights will guide the spirit of the Christ child to one's home. Pretty cool, right?


OK, and I'd like to meet the genius that invented these....practically every toy Matthew got was secured by these contraptions. Yeah, they're kinda like those childproof caps on medicine bottles. Completely impossible for adults to open.


OK, and last but not least, for those of you who voted in my last post that the snowperson in question was a woman, I submit the following....


Notice how in this family of snowpeople the woman is wearing a kerchief style head covering and the man is wearing a tophat? I rest my case. You must admit that the stocking holder is a man. Unless, of course, you're like my husband and insist that this must be a lesbian snow family....

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Need your help....

OK, folks, I need you to help settle a dispute in our household. Can you please tell me....

is this a man, or a woman? And, what makes you think so?

Thank you very much.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Getting ready for Christmas

Like everyone else, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas. We went last weekend to get our tree. Sadly, our favorite place - where you ride out to the fields on a horse drawn carriage, singing Christmas carols the whole way - was closed. I'd stumbled upon the owner's obituary when I was searching the farm out online. Their sign says they'll be open next year - I sure hope so.

So, we headed off to another farm that we've been to before. They had some great trees, and we ended up picking the very first one we stopped at. Now, don't misundertand....we didn't cut it down the first time we saw it. Oh, no...of course not. We tredged through the fields for another 45 minutes or so, only to come back to the original tree. Thank goodness no one else had snagged it.

Matthew had a fun time. He loves being outside, and enjoyed traipsing through the fields. Naturally, we snapped some pictures, it being his first time picking a tree and all. Here are a few...


Here's a quick video of my favorite part....

A few pics from inside the car after....


We've been slowly working on getting the house decorated. We have A LOT of Christmas decorations. One thing I've developed a fondness for over the last few years is door hangers. I've got a bunch of different ones, and almost every door in our house has one on it. Yes, even the bathrooms.
Here are a few of my favorites...
and this one...that always goes on our bedroom door.

But this year, I've finally got the perfect place for this one...

Matthew's bedroom door. That just sums it up.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Christmas Music snob

OK, OK, I'm posting...... =) It hasn't really been that long, has it?

This morning on my way to work I was listening to a new CD of Christmas music that I picked up the other night. I decided to be adventurous and try listening to something other than my old stand-bys, and this CD seemed like it had potential. It boasts songs by Johnny Cash, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and has a few of my favorite songs that you don't find on many CD's out there. So, I popped it in and got ready to belt out some tunes while cruising down the highway. Sadly, I found myself skipping past every song - each one worse than the last. In a word, it SUCKED! Guess that's why it was only $2 at the register in Walgreens.

I've come to realize that I only like certain Christmas songs sung by certain artists. When I hear a song sung by someone other than the singer I'm expecting, I just can't enjoy it. Likewise, when I hear a singer I love singing a song other than one I'm used to hearing them sing, it's just not happenin' for me.

Here are some song/artist combos that I think just shouldn't be messed with...

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
Home for the Holidays - Perry Como
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reinder - Gene Autry
Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
I'll Be Home for Christmas - Perry Como
It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas - Perry Como
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams

Is it just me, or do any other versions sound like they're just not right? How about you? Can you listen to any song by any singer, or do you have a hangup about Christmas music like me?

And yes, I do know there are a lot of Perry Como songs in my list. The man was a genius. And for the record - best Christmas album EVER? You guessed it......