Southern Fried Christmas

As I said in an earlier post,  in order to be on the same schedule as my brother and sister-in-law, we decided to spend our first Thanksgiving with my family (or, as it turned out, just the two of us), and our first Christmas with Scott's family. His sister Kristi and bro-in-law Josh in Atlanta just had a darling baby boy, making it hard for them to travel to family. So, we decided to bring family to them.

Before leaving for Atlanta we enjoyed spending some time with Scott's parents... they took us to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert

We did NOT want to ship our Christmas gifts to Georgia, so we decided to have Scott's parents over for dinner and a little pre-Christmas Christmas. I submit that there is nothing wrong with having multiple Christmas'. Nope. I say the more the 'Merrier'. Oh!

This photo is for Mary... see, I did have some Christmas cheer in our little apartment! It took FOREVER to hang all of those ornaments from the ceiling, but it was well worth it.

Funny story... Scott and I gave each other the EXACT same brand of yoga mat. We finished wrapping each other's presents the night before our gift exchange and both laughed really hard when we placed suspiciously similar shaped packages "under" the tree. Thank goodness we kept our receipts b/c, FYI, Target isn't always the most awesome place to return things.

Anyways... we left for Atlanta bright and early on the 23rd (thanks to Kevin Lacey for the pre-dawn ride to the airport. Above and beyond the call of duty buddy.)

I must say that Atlanta seems like a pretty cool town. Josh and Kristi took us to a really great Thai place for lunch, setting the tone for a week of culinary delights. BTW, if for no other reason, we will return to Atlanta for the food.

Later that night they took us to Stone Mountain  to enjoy their lovely little Christmas Village.

I looked out the window and what did I see?... A Confederate battlefield Christmas light display! No kidding! I couldn't believe my eyes. Scott and I made Josh and Kristi stop the car so we could take a closer look. This was my first REAL Southern experience (I lived in Northern Virginia for 2 summers, but that wasn't really the kind of "the South will rise again" type of experience that places like Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. can offer).

Somebody really put a lot of work into this thing, it was ginormous! We later took a train ride around the 'mountain' and saw several 'Christmas themed' light displays of a similar scale along the way.

Stone Mountain really went all out Clark W. Griswold style with their lights. Every square inch of building was illuminated... it was pretty impressive.

Many of you know about the epic Adams, Orton, Staples Christmas Eve extravaganza. Until this year I have never missed a singe one in my life. I wasn't sure how I would handle my first year away from my favorite tradition... little did I know that Kristi and Josh had done their homework and had a Christmas Eve extravaganza of their own in the works. We had friends over for dinner, a nativity pageant, lit candles, and...

Kristi got everyone matching P.J.'s! It was a marvelous evening and I can't thank Kristi and Josh enough for being so great to me during my first Christmas away from home.

Scott is a fantastic uncle and adores his nieces and nephews.

Scott's 3 year old niece is 100% princess and oh so much fun to be around. While Scott was playing with her she said, "Scott, you and Katie are just... I'm just really glad you are here to visit me." Seriously, that kid had us wrapped around her finger the entire time we were at her house. We went through some major withdrawals when we got back to SLC.

Many fine gifts were given and received this Christmas... particularly Josh and Kristi's gift of a plush 'the clap' to Scott. Yes, Scott can now say that his sister and bro-in-law gave him 'the clap' for Christmas. Gross, yet awesome. FYI, you can purchase plush microbes for your loved ones HERE. Nothing says 'Happy Birthday!' quite like a plush figurine of the Ebola Virus.

One of the Topham's neighbors (Debbie Bowen) is famous for her incredible homemade candies. She made a special box for us to take to Josh and Kristi in Atlanta... this reaction says it all. Debbie is a candy genius!

We were honored that Josh and Kristi would bless their new baby boy while we were in town. Josh gave his son a beautiful blessing. It was really great to get to meet some of their close friends. Also, Josh's Dad and sister flew in for the occasion. It was great to get to know them better as they have been a big part of Scott's life.

We got to spend a little time in the great outdoors. We took a lovely walk around a lake near Josh and Kristi's house. I had NO idea that Georgia had such massive, gorgeous trees. Amazing! Scott's niece was a little trooper, but got a bit tired about 1/2 way around the lake. No worries, as it turns out, one doesn't have to do much walking when one is 3 and adorable.

A big THANK YOU to Josh, Kristi, and their kids for sharing a fantastic Christmas holiday with us!