Tuba Christmas @ The Underground

Our friends Kristi and Amelia are in town, and yesterday we ventured to The Underground. (Hey, that kinda rhymes!)

Earlier this week, Kristi said she wanted to go to Atlanta's Tuba Christmas. "What?" I said. "Tuba Christmas!" she explained (and exclaimed). Kristi very much wanted to go, even with a skeptical friend and two little girls in tow. And she wanted to take the train. I prefer to drive, in case, you know, I need to get out in a hurry. (Not that driving anywhere downtown will allow one to escape in a hurry if need be, but it's just the idea of having my own transportation, I guess, that gives me some sort of false sense of security. But I digress ...) I wasn't crazy about the idea of venturing downtown during lunchtime with two 1-year-olds for a tuba concert, but I told Kristi if that is what she really wanted to do while she was in Atlanta, then I would go with her.

So we went to Tuba Christmas yesterday. Turns out, it is pretty neat! Basically, tuba players from all over convene at a designated location to play Christmas music. These events have been going in various cities since 1974--an excellent year, I might add! The first Tuba Christmas took place in NYC's Rockefeller Plaza, and these events take place all over the country ... and world. Be sure to check the Web site tubachristmas.com to find one near you.

Our adventure was fun--it was Kate's and my first time to take MARTA, though we both have taken the subway in other cities. We arrived to the concert a bit late, but that was OK. It was a bit nipply out, and the girls were ready to eat lunch, so we didn't stay for the entire event.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets (my second time eating JR in two days--love those burgers!), and then bought some overpriced photos at those little stands set up in Underground Atlanta. What can we say? We are suckers for stuff like that. I bought a group photo of us with some "exotic birds" (an owl and a parrot or something), and Kristi got a picture of herself and Amelia with an Obama background. (Kate and I politely declined to join in their photo--hee hee!) (In case you didn't know, Kristi is a Democrat, but we still get along pretty well. In fact, I seem to have a lot of liberal friends--I guess working in the newspaper business will do that to you. LOL!)

On our journey back home, the girlies fell asleep. What a fun ATL adventure!

Here are some more photos:

This is how we roll!


Kristi and Amelia enjoying the performance

Merry Tuba Christmas!


lunchtime!


Underground Atlanta was giving out these little reindeer hat thingies. Both ended up ripped before we left. We tried to get a pic of the girls wearing them, but this was about as good as it got.


Kate and Amelia loved this little car ride--thank you, Kristi!

Here are some photos on the AJC site.