Happy Birthday Harry!

My love for Harry Potter is of the lasting kind. It was slow in the beginning, gradual in the increase, and has been growing steadily ever since. When the books first came out, I had no interest at all. I'm not really into 'fantasy' novels, per se, and these really held no appeal to me at all. I waited about five years before jumping on the bandwagon. Then I decided that since I was going to be a teacher, I'd better see what all the fuss was about. I read The Philosopher's Stone and was interested. I decided to keep going with book two, and was intrigued. Then I read book three, and I was hooked. I devoured books four and five (in all their lengthy glory) in a weekend or so, and then waited. I waited almost two years for Half Blood Prince come out, and was delighted when (my then fiance) Neil bought it for me as a surprise. The winter after we got married, we read through the first six books aloud, on road trips and by lamplight in our cozy living room. By the time The Deathly Hallows was published in 2007, (although we were an old married couple who had to set our alarms to go and pick up our pre-ordered copy) we were there at midnight to get it, and we read the entire thing aloud over the weekend.

As for the movies, they've been a little slower in the loving for me. I can't help being frustrated at all the things that are changed, the important parts that are left out, or the moments that are just not quite right. But over the years I've learned to like them for what they are, to enjoy and appreciate them, and to await each release anxiously. But it wasn't until a few weeks ago, that I realized just how much I really love them too. July 15th. It ends here. And it made me really sad!

But, by the gracious generosity of our two favorite newlyweds, who gave up a night alone in their cute new apartment, in order to sleep over here and 'babysit' two sleeping boys, we were able to go to the midnight showing of the last movie...and it was awesome! We made Gryffindor shirts for the whole family, (which washed off after one wearing...dratted iron-on transfers!) we plotted a week-long marathon of re-watching the old movies (although we didn't quite get through them...or really much of them at all...) and we cooked and ate lots of Harry Potter themed food from our 'Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook'. We made pumpkin pasties, treacle tart (Harry's favorite!), meat pies, chocolate trifle and butterbeer (Mmm...SO good!). We stayed up about five hours past our bedtime to see it first, with all the other crazies...and it was awesome!

Some shots of our theme food!We can't wait to do a marathon this winter...! One week, eight movies, lots of food...who's in?!

Here are our little Gryffindors, sporting their (one-time-use) t-shirts. Too bad we didn't get a picture of the big one before he ate his chocolate trifle!

Neil and Beth...all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in our Gryffindor apparel at the midnight showing!

Wonderful friends who made this possible. Thank you Anna and Kevin! We love you guys!! (Geesh...the least I could have done was to snap one non-blurry picture of you two...! So sorry!!)

Because we've been so busy, this blog post kind of fell by the wayside. But I didn't want to skip it, so I kept it in my pocket for today...Harry's birthday. So to the Boy who Lived, Happy Birthday! Harry, Ron, Hermione and all the rest...thanks for the memories.

'We defended the Stone, we found the Chamber, we freed the Prisoner, we were chosen by the Goblet, we fought alongside the Order, we learned from the Prince, we mastered the Hallows.'