Dean: Can we buy some rope?
Bruce: [chuckles] I told you last time, we are not tying Santa to the chimney.
Dean: No, stupid.
Adult Dean: Although that was a solid idea.
Dean: I want to buy some rope and a pulley so we can pull supplies up in a bucket. Yeah, I also have a bunch of other ideas too, like a doorbell or maybe a slide?
Bruce: A slide? Isn't that a bit much?
Dean: No, "a bit much" would be a moat filled with man-eating piranhas. The piranhas part, not the moat.

Adult Dean: It's gonna be so cool having a brother who works in a bank. I'll get all the free lollipops I want, and maybe I can take a bath in money, like Scrooge McDuck.
[fantasy: Dean is wearing a top hat and a monocle as he sits in a bathtub full of money:]
Dean: More, more, more!

Dean: I totally dig it.
Bruce: Mm-hmm. It's the perfect place to sit and look at stars. You know, if one of us had a telescope. [chuckles]
Dean: Yeah. If.
Bruce: Oh, you see that constellation right there? That one's called Cassiopeia. You can see it from where I'm stationed in Vietnam. When I look up at it every night, I'll always be thinking of you. And you can think of me, too, when you see it from here.
Adult Dean: I guess the war did change my brother... in some ways. But not in the ways I had feared. And not in the ways that really mattered. He was still the kind of guy who would spend Christmas Eve freezing his butt off in the treehouse with his little brother.
Dean: Where's Santa? He's late.
Bruce: Hmm. Maybe he really is Black. [both laugh]

Adult Dean: Later, it occurred to me that we all gave Bruce gifts that he had to be home to use. That's how confident we were he'd be coming back.
Bruce: Now, I wonder what this could be.
Dean: It's a telescope.
Bruce: I thought it was a pair of socks. [laughter] You think you can, uh, keep an eye on it for me while I'm gone?
Dean: Of course. Wait. I'm allowed to use it, right?
Bruce: Yes. [stammers]
Kim: Don't feel bad, Bruce. He said the same thing to me last year when he bought me a Black GI Joe.

Lillian: Girl, you better not be clumping that tinsel.
Kim: I'm not. I'm just putting it on in little bunches.
Lillian: Mm-hmm. That's the definition of clumping. See, just... just one strand at a time.

Dean: I need everything to be perfect. I finally finished wrapping his present. You think he'll like it? It's a telescope.
Kim: Really? We thought it was a sweater.

Bill: Look who I found. [Lillian squeals]
Adult Dean: Two years ago, the Williams family was ripped apart. Tonight, we were made whole again. My brother Bruce finished his tour of duty in Vietnam, and he was coming home, just in time for Christmas.
Bruce: Uh, excuse me, sir. Have you seen Dean Williams? He's my little brother, about this tall. [laughter] [hugs Dean] It's good to see you, man.
Adult Dean: I didn't expect him to look so different. Maybe it was the uniform, or maybe it was just that two years had passed since I'd seen him. Whatever the reason, Bruce was not the same teenager who left this house. He was a man. I mean, he was almost as tall as Kim.

Bruce: What?
Dean: I've never seen anyone eat so fast.
Bill: Don't get that sleeve too close to your mouth, son. You might swallow a button. [laughter]
Lillian: Let the boy eat. He obviously missed his mama's cooking.
Bill: We can talk later about you chipping in on the grocery bill.
Bruce: Okay. [laughter]

Adult Dean: Bruce's "errand" took us to two streets my parents told me never to cross. We ended up at a shady house in a sketchy neighborhood.
Bruce: Stay in the car.
Adult Dean: What kind of errand required a duffel bag? Well, just in case Bruce was a little off, it was good that I was there to look after him... from the car. [lock clicks]

Dean: Did their son... die?
Bruce: Yeah. He was one of my guys.
Dean: Was he one of your friends that you talked about in your letters?
Bruce: Yeah. James.
Dean: Well, what about Carver or Monte?
Bruce: Still there, but good. You know, Carver has a pet chicken.
Dean: What's his name?
Bruce: Cat. [both laugh]
Dean: That's so Carver.
Bruce: Hey, Dean, let's go over to the hardware store, pick up a few things for the observation deck. I mean, we gotta be ready for when Santa come, right?