CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR'S FUN

We've now welcomed our 5th cat to the household - yep, five.  This is Letty and, like me, doesn't photograph that well due to her interesting, but dark, torty coloration, but, damn, is she a sweetie (also like me!).  She was the last of a litter of six that we were fostering recently and gets her name from a character in the Fast and Furious movie franchise as were her siblings ("the fast and the curious").  Several factors led to us deciding to add another member to our family.  First, as mentioned before, she's super sweet.  Second, she gets along famously with Sunny.  Third, she's the eventual replacement for Zippy who we know is in his twilight years (or might outlive us all just for spite).  

Saturday, December 9 - We had some great take-out for lunch today from a food truck here in Lebanon called Just Fish.  Their catfish filets are sublime!   While Ashlee isn't a big fried fish fan, she thought their "Just Spaghetti" sides (two of them) made a great meal as well.  We'll be back!!  

Wednesday, December 13 - We headed out late this afternoon to jump on the JW Starlight 4D Christmas train experience and bar in the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel.  This has been our only Christmas pop-up experience so far in Nashville this season, but it was a fun one including a great cocktail of coffee liqueur and local Greenbrier Distilling whiskey. 

The holiday classic, A Christmas Story, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, so we had to go see it on the big screen.  We chose the Green Hills Theaters (recliners!) to take it in and it was a nice follow-up to our pop-up bar experience.   

Ashlee and I finished first and third, respectively, in the regular season of our fantasy football league this season!  On to the playoffs!! 

Saturday, December 16 - We threw a Christmas Party entitled "Let's Get Lit" tonight that included a boozy shuttle ride to see Christmas lights.  We had a great turnout with folks coming from as far away as Chattanooga and Pennsylvania.  And I drank too much (shocker), but otherwise it was our usual fun time despite a little rain throughout the evening. 

Tuesday, December 19 - We went to see the new film, Wonka, at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) on Tuesday Bargain Night.  The film was a pure delight and very well made.  

Saturday, December 23 - We exchanged presents tonight in our house full of pets since we are heading to Chattanooga tomorrow and then on to the beach for the week after.  

December 24 - We loaded up today to head to Chattanooga for Christmas Eve with Sunny at Paige, Andy and Ella's house.  We started a new novel by Tom Hanks via audiobook called The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece. It's a long one which we need for our drive to Florida and back this week.  
We had a great time exchanging presents, eating some great food, and playing a hilarious game of "What Do You Meme?" from the makers of "Cards Against Humanity." 

December 25 - We hung out at Paige's for Christmas Day and despite the rainy weather, had a nice time with family.   

December 26 - We loaded back up today from Chattanooga and continued south for our beach vacation in NE Florida.  The weather was crappy, the traffic was worse, and the only highlight was seeing the pretty Forsyth County Courthouse in Forsyth, Georgia, when we got rerouted off the clogged-up interstate south of Atlanta.  We are familiar with this building and town from watching the "7 Little Johnstons" TV show. 
We did find a great, free dog park at the Dublin, GA, Welcome Center and wanted to give a shout out to them for their great facilities.   Sunny was also a real trooper in the car for the long ride. 

It was well after dark when we finally got to our very nice pet-friendly condo in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida, just a couple blocks said beach and met our friends, Mike and Eileen, and their little dog, Callie.  Sunny loves little dogs and Callie was no exception.  They got along famously right off the bat.  

December 27 - This was Sunny's first vacation and first visit to the beach.  She was a little spooked by the waves but seemed to enjoy the visit.  As mentioned before, she was great in the car on the long ride down as well and is great to travel with. 
We were able to walk down to the Salt Life Food Shack and eat out on the patio with the doggies.  The food and drinks were great here! 

 We stopped by  Mocama Beer Company this afternoon where I had a pretty good beer and Sunny used their facilities (a fenced in picnic area out back) and we were so happy to see they had brewery cats here.  Besides this calico (who looks a lot like our Doris), Ashlee also spied a torty among the brewing facilities. 
We also had some libations and some damn good warm pretzels at Hofbrau Amelia, a German beer garden in downtown Fernandina Beach. 

December 28 - After a lazy morning and so-so weather outside, we ambled over to T-Ray's Burger Station (yes, it used to be a gas station) for some outstanding fresh cheeseburgers and fries.  
We put Sunny in for a nap afterwards and strolled a little in the charming downtown area of Fernandina Beach.  We popped in some stores and had a nice couple of libations at Amelia Island Brewing Company.  We like this town! 

 
We had a great bonfire arranged on the beach tonight and were even graced with a full moon and sky full of stars.  The dogs enjoyed it as well.  

An added bonus to our amazing moonlit beach bonfire was seeing the launched Space X Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center down the coast a good ways. 

December 29 - We did a little road-tripping today since the weather was sunny and beautiful, but still pretty darn cold, so it was better to see the area from the car mostly.  We headed back north a bit, and our first stop was the historic Horton House on beautiful Jekyll Island.  The walls of this amazing structure are made with seashells and are still standing after being erected in 1743, making it one of the oldest structures in the state of Georgia.  

The windswept Jekyll Island beach was pretty quiet thanks to the time of year and windy conditions.  

The beautiful St. Simons Lighthouse was all decked out for Christmas.  We enjoyed a late afternoon stroll around this pretty town's waterfront, saw a couple dolphins cruising through the harbor, and had a good dinner at Iguanas seafood restaurant. 

What the "H" is up with this bridge?  We headed back toward our condo as the sun was setting as we crossed the awesome Sidney Lanier Bridge spanning over the Brunswick River.  It was from this bridge earlier we saw a very unique and giant "RoRo aka Roll on-Roll off" automobile container ship from the European company, Wallenius Wilheimsen.

December 30 - We had some more time on the beach today and Sunny continued to enjoy herself except for a little wariness of the waves.   The wind still kept it a little cold, but not awful. 
We had lunch that consisted of some pretty good pizza outside with Sunny at First Love Brewing along with some of their excellent beer.  

It was kind of a bummer today to stop by the Amelia Island Lighthouse, the oldest still in existence in the state of Florida (circa 1838), and have the gate closed despite the fact that the grounds are supposed to be open on Saturdays.  Boo!! But still a beauty, even from a distance.   
We had dinner (sans the snoozing Sunny) back at the walkable Salt Life Food Shack which was again great. 

December 31 - New Year's Eve started with a fantasy football battle between me and Ashlee for 3rd place unfortunately since we both got beat in Round 2 of the playoffs.  Ashlee inched out a come-from-behind win to get some revenge over my regular season win over her.   We both had a pretty successful and fun season this year. 

It was our last full day at the beach and it did not disappoint with sunny skies and some dolphins cruising by our beach area.

Our early dinner at The Boat House was incredible along with great drinks and good live music.  We hung around a little while downtown afterwards and wanted to see the NYE "shrimp drop" at 7 PM, but we were stuffed, it was getting cold, and the drop looked a little lame (dropping from a bucket truck - big whoop), so we headed back to the condo instead and relaxed the year away.  

11:59 PM - We strolled over to the chilly moonlit beach at midnight to ring in the new year. 

  Happy (EST) New Year from Fernandina Beach!! 

2023 was a weird, wacky year with a car wreck, a motel room for a cat, another new cat, a return to Bonnaroo and also a lot of fun and laughs along the way.  This year's collage turned out great.
Bring it on 2024!!