Christmas and Boxing Day travel

We're safely in St. Petersburg, Florida, after a short 24-hour stay in Atlanta (returning there Saturday). I drove most of the day today, as Pat kept dozing off. 501 miles... took 10.5 hours, including stops. Then visited with Pat's mom and brother, checked into a nearby Holiday Inn (no room at home here) and took the kids over to Snell Isle to look at lights before bedtime.

Yesterday, at my childhood home in Austell, Georgia, there were 8 adults and 10 kids at dinner. Our red-eye flight from Los Angeles landed at 6am, after we'd had a fun dinner near LAX with A. on Christmas Eve -- at the diner from the movie "Pulp Fiction" (Pann's Coffee Shop). James was wowed. ;) After a hassle at Atlanta airport Christmas morning with Hertz (our initial rental car had a nearly-flat tire) we finally made it in around 9am. Then... I started cooking, as my mom isn't really up to lots of heavy lifting and mixing anymore. patgreene and I wound up doing much of dinner... which was tasty, but late (around 4pm).

It was great to have my parents and siblings all together again, as well as my brother's girlfriend K. and her five kids. K. gave Coby a set of Sugar Bowl tickets... so they are headed to New Orleans this weekend, and hence my New Year's Eve and Sunday night plans have both fallen through. But I'm happy for him.