Holiday Fun

Over the weekend, the kiddos went to spend some fun times with Gigi and Papa at their house, while Michael and I attended his holiday party, cleaned up the leaves in the yard (again!... almost done; just one more round to go, I think), and went to the Atlanta Symphony's Christmas concert, which was one of my birthday presents. Yes, that last sentence was rather long.

So, while the kids ate hot dogs and other favorite goods, played on the computer, caught chipmunks, played with their "pet frogs," and played on sand piles at the golf club... yes, we slept in!

On Friday night though, we visited Sweetwater Brewing Company for Michael's office party. This was to appeal to the "younger staffers," but I think all ages appreciated something a little different. There were about nine beers on tap, plus a nice bar and wine selection and great food. The live musician playing guitar and singing wasn't bad either!

We had a great time with old and new friends, and I even bumped into a fellow Roman who knew a bunch of the staff and was there was a friend who's a staff member.

During the day when we were cleaning up the yard, I was cleaning up the mailbox planter after a  short freeze killed it all off during the week, and I found an ornamental sweet potato in it! So how about that?! When that sucker came out, I better understood why it was killing me to get that darn root up!

I also managed a birthday massage during the afternoon! Then, we were off to dinner at Tamarind Seed across from Symphony Hall, which had been recommended highly by my parents.

We enjoyed some yummy beverages and dinner. The recommendation was spot-on. PLUS, on the way out, we ran into another Roman, Sam Moss!

The symphony was fantastic. The Morehouse Men's chorus performed, along with the ASO, Atlanta Symphony Chorus, and the Gwinnett Young Singers. Every group was special, and I was just incredibly impressed with the Gwinnett Young Singers. Their music was technically very difficult and beautiful. Morehouse was superb, but we had heard them before many years ago. We just loved the variety of music -- both secular and religious -- and of course, we stood for the "Hallelujah Chorus."

On Sunday, we got the babies back in time to share more Christmas cheer with them at the Kraft's church. We attended their spectacular Christmas program, complete with singing, dancing, acting, orchestra -- and even the Grinch! Best of all, it included Uncle John and Millie. The kids really enjoyed it and were very well-behaved throughout the entire thing. Matthew was a little creeped out by the Grinch, but nothing over the top.

Then, since we missed Mexican dinner on Friday night, we ate at their favorite spot for dinner, La Cocina.

It's been a fun and busy holiday season!