A Hotlanta Holiday: Part I

Last Christmas? Sucked. HARD.

This Christmas? Rocked. HARD.

I had a great time in Atlanta (well, Lilburn, really, but who the heck knows where that is). The trip kicked off with a "Hey, it's that guy!" moment prompted by one Wayne Knight, aka Newman from Seinfeld, or havoc-wreaking nerd Nedry from Jurassic Park. Mr. Knight was 1) gracious enough to sign autographs for some other people 2) probably waiting to pick someone up, since he's from GA and 3) looking thinner than in his Seinfeld days.

After being whisked off to chez Beckmann-Gerow-Szabo, Sar and I enjoyed some quality slothing and some quality eats: Chicken Cheese Casserole, cooked by Mom. (Initiate drool sequence...now!) I was abysmally tired, but perked up around 9pm when we started watching a little show called Veronica Mars. Have I mentioned it? I can't quite recall. However, I hasten to mention that during my nearly-one-week stay at casa B-G-S, we watched the entire first season. Mom and Grandma are hooked and I was forced to leave the new season 2 episodes with them to help them get fully caught up. Looks like obsession runs in the family. Hee.

Christmas morning was slow to get going, given the time difference and the fact that none of us are 7 years old anymore and we ain't exactly brimming with the hope of glimpsing some reindeer. After the typical cinnamon roll breakfast (in case anyone was counting, I most certainly did not eat four), we got down to the business of the day: presents.

What, you thought Christmas was about something else? ;) It's fairly out of focus, but you can see how Santa went a little crazy.



I didn't really feel like I hit any "home runs" in terms of gifts this year, but Nilofer was pretty darn psyched about her Oprah DVD, and I actually made Grandma cry when she opened up her framed picture of Sar and me. As usual, Mom had a couple home run gifts that she didn't anticipate being so well received: a freakin' adorable sock doll (will post picture later - extremely huggable) and a pirate coloring book which she defaced with tackily-colored outfits and embellished with irreverent quotes. I heart Mom. Plus, Josh surprised me by sending a few presents to Atlanta (the knave!) so I could open them on Christmas Day. That good surprise, and the card he wrote me, were completely thoughtful and sweet and made me feel like such a lucky lady. He's a keeper!. Hee.

Christmas night, we had a whole crew for dinner: Phil and his two sons, Matthew and Andrew; Grandma; Mom; Sar and I. Okay, that's not that large a crew, but it felt like a lot of people, even though only one of them is pictured below. Please note that the snowflakes, while incredibly realistic, were created by Mom, rather than Mother Nature - we didn't actually get a white Christmas. We did, however, get a lovely wintry atmosphere in which to gorge ourselves.



Stuffed and happy, we retired to the kitchen for group games and Christmas-themed Mad Libs -- hilarious. If you haven't heard Mom's rendition of "Frosty the Chevrolet Man", you haven't lived. It goes a little something like this:

"Frosty, the Chevrolet Man
was a brown undulating soul,
with a corncob pipe and a button eyeball
and two eyes made out of prime rib.

...

Oh, there must have been some magic in
that old pair of chaps they found
for when they placed them on his appendix
he began to cut around."

There were tears in all our eyes. More tomorrow.

Addendum: Austin is less than two weeks away. Turns out Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni, Jason Dohring and Michael Muhney will all be in attendance. Plus I'll get to see Episode 11 before it airs. I'm psyched, people. This show rocks.