Mountain hiking, last minute shopping, and not brushing my teeth until noon each day describes my life this past Christmas as I spent time in Atlanta with family. I had the menu for Christmas dinner planned in my mind before I even packed my bags to leave NYC, and I made sure that the macaroni and cheese (my favorite) was going to be prepared by me. I'll be sure to add the recipe here.
The toughest decision around the holidays is which city and side of the family I will spend the most time with. Since this was the first Christmas without my grandpa, it was only right for my siblings and I to spend a week of quality time with our mom. I even cooked for the first time since August (don't ask why). Mall trips, motivational talks, movies, and even homemade rice crispy treats came along with a bunch of inside jokes and memorable pictures. I even got my mom to try a margarita from Red Pepper, which is a must go to spot every time I'm in the A.
We made the time to take a road trip to South Carolina to visit my aunt Frances, who gets out the house more than me at the age of 95! Also, I found out that I have bad anxiety when riding in cars for long periods of time, or my brother is just a passive aggressive driver. The high of my trip was hiking Stone Mountain. Side note: how random is it to hike a mountain with my dad in California and then a mountain in Georgia with my mom three weeks later. Either way, I enjoyed my downtime being in the house with my family for the holidays and all of the bonding moments, so here's a few pictures from that week.
