And Then There Were Three: Christmas in the 'Burbs

Merry Christmas season!

I don't care if some people think the suburbs are lame. ;) Tonight reminded me of the upside of living outside the perimeter: It's kid-friendly, there's a sense of community, and people aren't afraid to have good, old-fashioned, unashamed fun. Really, no one's too cool for school in the 'burbs, and now that we have E.V., neither are we. So, in the spirit of suburban living, tonight we joined the families of Alpharetta for the annual Christmas tree lighting downtown.

It was our first year attending because we were too cool for school pre-baby, and it made me sad that we've missed out on so much fun over the years. When we realized that the lighting was tonight, we decided to take advantage of being a new family and dressed Emma Vance up in her warm reindeer wear and headed downtown for the evening. What we didn't know in advance was that North Point Community Church was running the event, and they did a SPECTACULAR job. There was music and kids' choirs and food trucks and families and dogs and hot chocolate and cafe lights and general merriment. (These are a few of my favorite things...) The main event was that Santa arrived in Alpharetta all the way from the North Pole, and when Emma Vance was confused, we corrected the emcee and told E.V. he was coming all the way from North Point Mall, which made sense to her since that's where she saw him last week.

The highlight of the night's entertainment was Britt Kitchen's Young-Life-like program; we were so surprised to see him on stage, so it made our night. We even were lucky enough to run into Britt and Natalie and their 2.5 kids after the show, a path-crossing that always brightens our day. In fact, there were a lot of old friends there tonight, making it an unexpected occasion to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a while. Maybe that's why tonight made me fall in love with the suburbs again: Our friends are our neighbors, and our neighbors are our friends...and you can run into them in the most innocent of places, like the town's annual tree lighting.

So, dear Atlanta, as much as I like you, I'll opt to keep my life in the 'burbs and see you only on occasion. It's only a 20 minute drive after all. Unless it's rush hour. Or unless there's construction. Or unless I forget my toll money. Maybe we can just have a long distance relationship?