Jeff's Top 10 Christmas Specials/Movies

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas
2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. A Muppet Family Christmas
4. It's a Wonderful Life
5. A Claymation Christmas
6. It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original animated)
8. John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
9. Home Alone
10. The Simpsons Christmas Special (first full-length episode)

Honorable mention: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey live-action version), Frosty the Snowman, 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol, A Garfield Christmas

Am I missing anything? Leave it in the comments.

First baby purchases

We spent today (after church) driving to the IKEA in Frisco (north of Dallas) to get -- you guessed it! -- baby furniture! We decided we liked the Leksvik line from IKEA, which was great because it's not only sturdy but affordable. We brought it home and wanted to share a photo of it in the baby's room! Here it is:

Beautiful, ain't it? And we were even able to get a matching set!  ;)

Okay, so we have some work ahead of us to put it together. But that's fine. Gives me a new project to work on. Besides, we're still in the process of clearing out the furniture that's in there. [Side note -- if you're looking for a youth rolltop desk or an old TV that sort of works, let me know.]

We also got to enjoy a brief side trip, as it turns out that the IKEA in Frisco is right next to Dr Pepper Ballpark, the home stadium for the Frisco Roughriders, the Texas Rangers' AA team. It's really one of the more interesting ballparks I've ever seen; Bethany thinks it looks like something straight out of Disney World. Here's a photo of the outside (home plate entrance):

Back to the furniture... As we type, Orbit is giving it the "sniff test" to make sure it is cat-approved. For now, here's what we got: crib, changing table, and tall dresser. We'll post some pictures later once we get the room all set up. 

My Clearly-Deserving-of-Many-Awards Baylor Magazine Articles for Fall 2008

The latest issue of Baylor Magazine is in the mail right now; if you're not getting it, take a look at this PDF-style E-dition to see what the print version of the magazine looks like. Not as easy to read as a straight HTML version like those linked below, but certainly much prettier, and it gives you an idea of what most readers see.

Now on to my latest articles:

• Faces of Baylor -- A series of profiles of current students from a wide variety of backgrounds, each talking about their experiences at Baylor
• Men's basketball looks to postseason and Lady Bears return veteran squad -- season previews for Baylor's basketball teams (which are now both in the top 25!)
• Fall sports well-represented in national polls -- Six programs were at least receiving votes this fall, not including basketball