Christmas comes early

We’ve been in Atlanta for a little Christmas appetiser since Friday evening and have been retracing our steps from a year ago, when we did the same trip.

Saturday morning we were at the Atlanta Christmas Parade, which was 90 minutes of large inflatables, local b-celebs, llamas, dressed up dogs, school marching bands, an insight into child obesity and Mr & Mrs Claus.

Later in the day Santa joined us for afternoon tea at our hotel, which was nice and our 3-year old’s face just about made the hefty cost of some cucumber sandwiches and mini egg-nog muffins worth it.

Then to round off a busy day I surprised my two girls by taking them to see the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Christmas Lights. The gardens were romantic and enchanting and under the twinkling lights we roasted marshmallows and drunk Glühwein. It was a memorable evening.

Yesterday afternoon we went back to Stone Mountain Park, to the Christmas Village, which was hours of fun and stimulation for our daughter. It ended with a parade under the lights, and there were Mr & Mrs Claus again. Actually after the parade we did end with the sing-along-scenic-railway, but by that time the little-un was out like a Christmas tree light bulb.

We are here until Wednesday when we return from our Christmas trip. Later today we plan on visiting the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest and tomorrow I am in particular looking forward to seeing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer performed at the Center for Puppetry Arts.

We will throw in some Pink Pig, an Atlanta institution plus some Christmas shopping and a dinner for two tonight at the Japanese restaurant Tomo.

I love Christmas. Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la!