Our First Christmas

Our first Christmas was a Smokey Mountain Christmas as we traveled to Tennessee to visit Suzanne, Ian and Noah. We had a wonderful time visiting family, meeting Ian's family, and exploring a new place. Susan, Tim, Molly, and Cliff were so welcoming and so fun; how great to get to know Ian's family. We certainly enjoyed their southern hospitality! I was surprised as we drove south to discover that my husband of six months and two days has an alter ego affectionately named "Southern Fried TJ". "SF TJ" is pretty harmless--he just has this huge, over-the-top southern accent. While amusing for the first few hours, "SF TJ" does get to be a bit much after a while. I did find myself asking him when "SF TJ" might decide to go away. Fortunately, he didn't stick around during the entire trip but made brief appearances throughout our stay in Tennessee. I do wonder who will show up when we go to New York or Italy. How many TJ's did I marry? Our trip highlight was without doubt the fact that we got to babysit Noah on Friday. We certainly would have enjoyed walking around downtown Knoxville, but it was much more fun with Noah. We took the elevator up the Sun Sphere (a structure built for the 1982 World's Fair) to check out the view of the city. We walked to the Old City and had a coffee/chai tea break at Java Old City--probably the coolest coffee shop I have ever encountered. It is over 100 years old and is decorated to look like a Venice alley. I loved it! We walked all around Market Square and checked out the great boutiques. We toured Suzanne's office and had lunch with her at a great vegetarian restaurant downtown. Noah was the best part of that great day. When he wasn't sleeping, he was relaxing in his stroller and giving us a running commentary of what we were seeing. He made friends with everyone we met and giggled every time we saw a dog. Noah loves to bounce and to look at and taste test everything! He kept us on our toes! We were so sad to leave and would love to travel back to the Smokey Mountains for another visit with Noah and his family!