Christmas Symphony

A lot of people don't know this, but every year the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has a free Christmas concert at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. It's an awesome concert and it is their way of saying thanks for Atlanta's support. Our friends the Lyons are long-term members there, so we usually see them whenever we attend their church.

I have had the privilege of attending the concert a couple of times. It is quite fun and moving. It is such a good cultural event, that it is well worth pulling kids out of school to attend, but I wouldn't recommend taking any small children that might have trouble sitting still or being quiet for an hour.

Plan A was for us to take Hannah and Naomi to a sitter and to attend the concert, but due to very bad weather and slow traffic, we switched to Plan B. So Duk-Sun and all the big kids attended the concert, while Hannah, Naomi and I did a short downtown tour. Afterwards, we rejoined them and had lunch at the famous Varsity restaurant.

Oh, I only had my cell phone, so these photos aren't the best quality. Still they capture the moments, I think.

Just before the concert

Downtown Atlanta can be fun even in the rain. That's because there is a maze of food courts, passageways, and bridges that connect the buildings to each other, so you can get around and still stay dry. Here we found a big Christmas tree for the girls to run around.

The most amazing thing I've found downtown is the Marriott Marquis building. Inside, it looks like you're in the body of a fish. The "spine" has two glass express elevators that zoom you from the bottom to the top of the building (47 floors up) in seconds. I wasn't sure how Naomi would react to this since she has always been afraid of elevators. She will cry or at least whimper while riding in them. But this time it was different. There was complete silence as we rode the "magic carpet" up, up, up. And when we came to rest at the top, she smiled from ear to ear and said, "Funny!" (She means fun, of course.)

Naomi still talks about lying on a couch at the lobby level and looking up. As you can see, she was thrilled.

Here we are at the Varsity.