When I started looking at our December pictures and wondered if the month deserved a blog post of its own, I was amazed at how much happened during the month: time with friends to the Tate House in the North Georgia mountains, Christmas tree lighting at church, and time with our whole family at Christmas as we enjoyed each other and activities in the area. Hope you enjoy this month with us.
The Tate House in northwest Georgia
Early in December, the Day Group from my sorority alum chapter (Delta Delta Delta) met at the Tate House for a delicious buffet meal and a tour of the beautiful house all decorated for Christmas. While the Tate family lived here for many years, a private owner now showcases the house and the gardens for these tours and for special events like very nice and expensive weddings. The four sides of the house reflect four different styles of architecture. It’s quite a place!
friends from DDD Day Group
These almost life-sized carolers greeted us as we walked from lunch to the house.
While I was tempted to take lots of pictures, so many people were walking through the rooms that I couldn’t get “clean” shots. Finally I got to this one bedroom that was tucked away in the corner of the upstairs.
bed with all its pillows
decorated fireplace
dresser with angels and Santa
tree with its topper
writing desk and entrance to bathroom
Every room had a different color scheme and style of decorations, but each was beautiful. I can’t imagine the time it takes to decorate and take down all of the rooms—and then there’s the need for storage! During the rest of the year, these rooms are used for group tours.
Starbucks open!
During much of December, our local Starbucks finally had enough staff to open during the day. Ah, I’m home.
Christmas tree lighting at our local church
For the 2nd year, NPCC (North Point Community Church) hosted an outdoor tree lighting that’s unlike those that are shown on Hallmark Christmas movies.
Musicians provide the music before and during the tree lighting.
LED lights on the tree change along with the music from the band.
Inside by the huge tree, the pianist serenates people as they took family pictures with Santa. Jason now wishes he had taken piano lessons when he was young.
These whimsical balloon decorations are by the children’s areas
family visit
On December 21, the families from Florida and California came to visit!
The California family brought snow clothes for Cash since his Florida youth group was planning a ski weekend in North Carolina over the New Year’s weekend. But . . . rain and warm weather cancelled the event. Oh well.
The grands loved playing games with anyone who would sit down with them; usually it was grandpa.
Now for some of our activities.
Top Golf
Do you have a Top Golf facility in your town? If not, it’s an upscale 3-story driving range featuring golf competitions that are automatically scored; the food they serve is delicious. The second night of our family being together we met up with Peggy’s sister Paula and her family. They had moved from Reno to Mobile last summer and were driving through Alpharetta after a long weekend at Hilton Head on the Atlantic Coast. So we all got to have a visit.
Peggy and Paula. Tammy is in the background next to Mackenzie who is ready to hit a ball.
Chris, Montana, Matt, Troy (Paula’s husband), and Jason are enjoying the time together.
Cash and Colson are figuring out the game with their dad, Brian. Mackenzie is looking on to make sure they’re doing it right.
All of us with Paula’s family.
a fun picture of the Martin family in 2021
After golfing, we came back to our home for dessert and games. Luckily I had done some Christmas baking the weekend before.
The sisters had such a good time together.
fun and food
The next day we all got together again and had such fun.
Christmas day
The funniest stocking stuffers were sequined masks for the California family since they’re the only ones required to wear masks these days.
Cooking with Jana—what a treat!
A common sight for these two young ones as they enjoy watching TV.
cousins
My favorite memories of this time together was seeing the cousins enjoying each other’s company.
walking toward our street
sharing the floor in their sleeping bags
shooting
All of our family likes to go target shooting, and the California family actually goes hunting. An indoor range wasn’t possible since Colson, our youngest, was too young. So most of the family went to an outdoor range.
About 1 1/2 hours away is this outdoor area with a shooting range.
The side is for handguns and rifles.
This side is a handgun range with targets in the distance (had to bring our own).
Brian with Colson
Montana shooting one of the rifles Brian brought from Florida that he borrowed from his father-in-law (thanks, Joe).
Tucker has good form.
Brian with Cash and Colson
The moms and I went out for a walk and lunch, thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather together.
Stone Mountain
We thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon and evening at Stone Mountain, a park that’s just east of downtown Atlanta.
This picture shows the size of the carving and how close to the ground it is.
These 3 heroes of the South are honored here.
So how big is the carving?
76 feet high x 160 feet wide, making the carving the largest high-relief sculpture in the world
comparisons to other monuments around the world
This detail next to Montana is reproduced from the actual size of the carving of Robert E. Lee’s uniform.
While we can enjoy walking up the more slanted side of the mountain, in the 1920s and ’30s, racing by foot and by car on the sheer side was popular. Often more than 10,000 people would watch a contest and cheer on the participants. Others daredevils would swing from cables still on the unfinished memorial carving to see if anyone could clear the head of General Lee.
Sometimes the rescues were as entertaining as the races.
The car on the right with 3 men sitting on it started its slide by the tree on the left with an X on the picture.
The steep slope that provided the entertainment.
Today we can take tram cars to the top. The trams were built in Switzerland.
This view at the top shows downtown Atlanta in the distance.
Barney is in a short-sleeved shirt and I’m in a jacket with a scarf. He was hot from the hike up the slope, and I was cold from the blowing wind. Pretty typical for us.
Davis house at Stone Mountain
On one area of the park is the Davis House that had been moved here from southwest Georgia.
Since we’ve seen so many old homes, I’m only going to show you pictures of pieces in the house that I found unusual.
A bathroom for the master and mistress of the family with a tub, toilet, and washing pan. A shaving mirror is underneath the window.
This box with slots is for storing the family’s silverware. Haven’t seen one of these before.
Rarely have we seen a 3-story home. This house had a summer dining room on the ground floor that could be used during the many hot days in a Georgia summer. The family would use hallways on the ground floor as sitting rooms that would take advantage of cooling cross breezes from the house’s multiple doors.
If the family was wealthy enough, they could spend summers in such places as Saratoga, New York.
a well-appointed summer dining room
When the eldest son would inherit the plantation after his father died, the mother often stayed with the family in her own quarters. In this house, Charles Davis allowed his father-in-law to live here until he passed away.
comfortable bed and writing desk
dressers and rocking chair
Such a nice tradition to have a room like this for an older parent.
Spice boxes from the late 1800s show that flavorful foods were popular. They used many of the common herbs we use, such as basil, parsley, fennel, rosemary, onions, garlic, and chives that could be grown in a kitchen garden.
Other flavorings were shipped across the globe on sailing ships from Asia around the horn of Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean. Our continent was discovered because of the search for a faster route to the spices of India, China, and the Spice Islands.
The trade of nutmeg (and mace, produced from the same trees), peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, curry, and other flavors from distant lands encouraged explorers to circle the globe, take great risks, and fight wars for the wealth and power that came from having these seeds and powders that were worth more than their weight in gold.
boxes for spices
elsewhere on the land were these farm buildings
These 2-story slave cabins were unique because rarely were twin cabins built on a plantation.
lights at night
Before the Christmas laser light show began, the Christmas tree was lit. The tree shape on the top of the mountain is from the wires used for the trams. This light show was worth staying for.
Jason is enjoying the lights of Stone Mountain village
Even this late at night the village was crowded.
New Year’s Eve day annual breakfast
Starting in 2017, Barney and I started going out for breakfast on December 31 at Waffle House or a biscuit place. This year Matt’s family and Jason encouraged us to go to a more upscale place for our annual outing. Wonder what we’ll do next year.
The Southern Porch in downtown Alpharetta. Pretty good food, I must say.
We finally made it through 2021, ringing out the old and ringing in the new with sparklers and fire crackers at midnight. After finishing physical therapy on my shoulder, we long to be on the road again in March. See you then!
