Staying Home for the Holidays? Enjoy Local Sites and Traditions

By Nina Kendall

How do you celebrate the holidays? What special events are you planning to attend? There are famous celebrations of the holidays across the United States from parades to Christmas tree lightings.  The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and other holiday events are broadcast on television. The White House has been lighting a National Christmas Tree  for 92 years.  Walt Disney World got into the act when they brought the Osborne Lights to Florida in 1995.

While major events draw crowds, you don't have to travel far to enjoy holiday traditions. Locales across the country feature unique celebrations that reflect local history and geography.  Popular traditions include caroling or sing-alongs, parades, festival of trees, and holiday light shows. 

A few Holiday Traditions with a Local Twist:

Festival of Trees
I love Christmas trees. To me a Christmas tree tells a story. Once a year we take out our treasures, memories , and joys and put them on display. Fernbank Museum of Natural History hosts Winter Wonderland annually. This exhibition is a collection trees and displays sponsored by cultural groups throughout the metro area. Each tree is decorated to reflect the sponsor. You can enjoy the trees, admire the handiwork, and learn about traditions from around the world practice by your neighbors.


Sing-A-Longs
I love to sing along. Secretly, I think everyone does not matter what they think of their voice. The Fox Theater hosted the 9^th Annual Sing-A-Long event, Mighty Mo & More this year.  This free concert is a chance to sing carols, donate to Toys for Tots, hear a local chorus, and enjoy a holiday movie. There is little more cheerful than sing Christmas Carols with others.


Light Shows
Atlanta and surrounding environs have a number of light show destinations.  Lake Lanier, Callaway Gardens, Stone Mountain, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens all host their own light shows. At Callaway Gardens, you drive through displays tied to the carols broadcast throughout the show. In the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, you walk amongst nature inspired light displays.  Each experience  imbued with a little Christmas magic.


New Year’s Eve Celebration
Atlanta’s Peach Drop is the local New Year’s Eve Celebration. This event takes near Underground Atlanta and is entering its 26^th year.  The Peach Drop is a daylong celebration that draws young and old alike. Venture downtown to enjoy a fairway game, sample festival food, and ring in the New Year with thousands of locals.

Staycation: Exploring the Changes in the Local Food Landscape

By Jeff Burns

            “The best laid plans….”  Our plan to have one lunch per week in a new restaurant or to try a new ethnic cuisine was a good plan, but life got in the way, and we haven’t quite made it each week.  However, we still managed to add some new favorites to our list. Here are a few find from our hunt for the food of a modern land.

            First up:  Villains Wicked Heroes.  Every menu item carries the name of a pop culture villain, from Lucy Van Pelt (Cajun boiled peanuts appetizer of course) to Bluto (a spinach salad) and Goldfinger (a hot brown sandwich hero).  The menu is a lot of fun, and the food is even better.  I enjoyed my favorite Bond villain, Oddjob, and my wife had a Mumm-Ra.

             Second, we visited Sobban- Korean Southern Diner in Decatur, the brainchild of a couple with another very successful restaurant, Heirloom Barbecue.  He’s southern, she’s south Korean, and they discovered that their cultures share many things in common, like a love for barbecue, pork, and pickles.  At Sobban, they’ve masterfully blended the two into many delicious dishes.  We started with a kimchi deviled egg and okara hushpuppies with kimchi  remoulade as appetizers.  (Not okra, okara is a soy pulp, a byproduct of making tofu) Our entrees were a bulgogi beef burger and a fried bologna sandwich – you guessed it, with kimchi – featuring bologna made in house.  It was all great.          





 Finally, we returned to Buford Highway, the most eclectic area of Atlanta.  Within sight at any time might be a Korean, an Indian, a Peruvian, a Mexican, and a Vietnamese restaurant.  We went to the Oriental Pearl, a Chinese dim sum restaurant.  We’ve eaten dim sum at other restaurants, but this was first time at Oriental Pearl.  If you’re not familiar with dim sum, it’s a Cantonese style of cooking bite sized servings on small plates, and servers wheel carts loaded with the offerings around the room.  You tell them what you want, they mark your bill, and the cashier tallies your cost by adding up the plates.  Foods include lots of dumplings and buns stuffed with shrimp, pork, tofu, vegetables, or some combination thereof, squid, chicken feet, and various vegetables.  Most dishes are steamed or fried.  It was a great experience, and I think we’ve found a new favorite dim sum place.