Brothers, Presents and Fudge

You know the best thing about brothers?  When they know you have a stress-filled week coming up, they buy you half a pound of your favorite Vanilla Praline fudge.  That's what Erik did for me this week!

No worries, I haven't eaten all of it...not even close...yet!

But aren't thoughtful brothers great?

My older brother, Keith, taught me how to play baseball with a baseball--no tennis balls allowed.  I could catch and throw with the best of them.  Erik taught me math in high school, and he's younger than I am.

And now Erik and I work together everyday on music.  Pretty amazing!  Of course, Erik and I have been best friends from the time we were little since we are only 18 months apart.  People used to think we were twins as teenagers because we kind of look like twins and we were on college campuses attending master classes!

So keep the fudge coming, Erik!

(P.S. Keith, I do still like Betty Jane Candies Gremlins, so you can consider it an idea for a birthday present for me...)

For today, I thought I'd highlight Rush, one of Erik's absolute favorite bands.  So here's "Tom Sawyer" by Rush!

Another Review, Free Song, and Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve brings us to a new review from Stubby's House of Christmas of "I Wonder as I Wander," the free song (click song name for the download link) from my album Jazzy Christmas to You II.  Here's a taste of the review (thank you, Stubby!):

"Well, as good as ["Jazzy Christmas to You!"] was, "Jazzy Christmas To You II" is unbelievably better.  It's simply amazing!  A true jazz tour-de-force.  You should buy it.  Seriously.  Go now (I'll wait)!"

Read the full review!

And, of course, since it's Christmas Eve there is lots of fun stuff happening at the Chaston household!

Today my sister came into the Y105 radio studio with me to be on air on the Morning Wake Up with Chris Farber.  It was awesome and lots of fun!

Loved having Amy in studio!

I couldn't contain my Christmas cheer and had to wear my "White Christmas" dress--even though no one would see it since I was on the radio!  But Chris had a brilliant idea: Amy took a picture of me while Chris held a poinsettia in the picture to make the picture completely festive.  (I think the floating poinsettia is my favorite part of the picture!)

Those are Chris' hands!

The Chaston's Christmas Eve traditions have continued to be just that!  We've already reenacted the Nativity, opened Ornaments, opened our Christmas Pajamas, opened our Children's Christmas Books, Caroled (yesterday), and are currently watching our favorite Christmas movies and shows!

Here is a funny aside:  Today my mom made her almost famous buns (dinner rolls) plus she made a new recipe of dinner rolls today because my sister wanted something besides the traditional Chaston buns.  BUT my mom's buns were not to everyone's liking so my brother, Keith, offered to make them again.  He botched the first batch so he made a second batch and they were VERY light and tasty!  So in preparation for Christmas dinner, we have made four batches of buns!  It is another Chaston tradition to keep finding ways to create joy for each other--even if it means making four batches of buns in one day!

Have Yourself a Merry [Little] Christmas!