Merry Christmas! Wait!!! Aren't we celebrating that other holiday, what's it called again? Oh yeah, Thanksgiving! I meant to write Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this time of year as my family knows, but I'm growing more and more annoyed that Thanksgiving is literally put on the back burner in favor of Christmas. I can't believe people have their Christmas trees and lights up already, and they've been up since last week or even before.

I realize Christmas is a true commercial holiday, and even though I don't like it, I've finally accepted that stores will decorate for the holidays and sell Christmas decor and gifts starting in October for business reasons, but it's still hard for me to accept people in my neighborhood and others already decorating for Christmas. Can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving?

I'm partially guilty in my own right, although I don't think my actions are quite as guilty as others. Satellite radio has already added a holiday songs channel called "Holly" that I've started listening to, which has greatly annoyed my wonderful husband since I enjoy listening to it a lot...well possibly all the time. Christmas music puts me in a great mood, but today as I prepared for Thanksgiving and listened to the music, it felt more like Christmas Eve and not Thanksgiving Eve.

I asked my students on a quiz I gave yesterday about when and where the first Thanksgiving was celebrated. Most of them didn't know the answer, which is sad since it seems the reasons why we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas have both been forgotten.

I'm thankful for many things, and I'm still very thankful that we have Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm not going shopping Friday. I'll be taking down my Thanksgiving decorations and putting up the Christmas tree and lights.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!

Touring CNN in Atlanta and a Publix sighting in Tennessee!

Last Friday, one of the University of Tennessee journalism faculty members took a group of undergraduate students to CNN in Atlanta for a tour and the opportunity to meet with UT alumni working at CNN. I tagged along since I've never been. The standard CNN tour than anyone can go on was informative for people who've never worked in a newsroom. While Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and Larry King do their shows out of New York, Washington and Los Angeles, CNN Headline news is based in Atlanta, and Atlanta is still the "mothership" of CNN.

The best part of the day was when one of the UT alums gave us a special tour where we had the chance to be on the newsroom floor and take photos behind the news desk. The students really enjoyed it. We also had a great talk with meteorologist Chad Myers, who took time out of his busy schedule to explain how things work and offer some great advice. Sometimes I still wish I'd been a meteorologist. I'm still annoyed we don't get "Local on the 8s" from The Weather Channel since we have Direct TV.

What was helpful to our group of students was meeting with hiring managers who coordinate internships and entry-level positions. It's a competitive business, and a common way for someone to get his or her foot in the door at CNN is to start off a Video Journalist or VJ. I know several friends from UF who did this after graduating. The starting salary is $24,000, and when I told this to my class yesterday, a series of shocked and horrified gasps befell the classroom. Honestly, the salary isn't that bad in Atlanta for a journalism job. I have friends who've moved to New York City and have taken a job for the same amount or less! I try to tell my students each semester that you don't become a journalist to become rich. There's a huge salary gap between what most journalists make and what Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Barbara Walters bring home.

Several of the UT alumni talked about why they continue to be journalists despite the long hours, giving up holidays with family and friends and considerably lower pay than other professions. Passion is the reason. They said they love their jobs and don't see them as jobs, and they have a passion for what they're doing. I wonder how many of my students have this passion. Making a living is important, but for many of them a paycheck outweighs their passion. People could ask me the same thing since I'm not a practicing journalist, but I do miss it...at times. At this point in my life, my passion is teaching, but how to instill passion in my students about being a journalist isn't easy these days.

The tour was a great experience for them and for me. A highlight on the way back home was seeing a brand new Publix grocery store just built off the interstate close to Chattanooga. I kind of squealed when I saw it, which probably made all the students on the van wonder what in the world I was doing, but Publix is one of the few things I miss about Florida (besides our families and friends :)) This Publix is about one hour and 15 minutes from our house, but I hope it's a sign that Publix is inching closer to Knoxville since there are many stores in the Nashville area.

Whenever I say "Publix," I swear that most people, automatically say, "I love Publix subs!" I have to agree with them. Publix, please find a home near Knoxville. It's truly "where shopping is a pleasure."

Remembering Aunt Yvonne

Aunt Yvonne (left) and family cousin Katherine at our wedding reception in 2004.

It's been a tough few weeks for my family with the passing of Uncle H.D. in October, and this past week, my mom's aunt, my great aunt, Yvonne Emery died suddenly. She turned 73 last Monday, Nov. 10, and on Tuesday afternoon, her heart simply stopped beating while she was at home talking on the telephone. Her passing is still a shock to all of us.

Aunt Yvonne and her husband, Uncle Paul, used to live near my parent's house in Alachua. One of my fondest memories of her and Uncle Paul is when they helped save our Christmas one year. During the days leading up to Christmas in 1989, a snow and ice storm delved all the way down to Florida. I was 12 years old and had never seen snow. What we experienced was more ice than snow, and it created more havoc than happiness. Churches canceled Christmas services. The mall and other stores closed early because no one could drive on the icy roads.

Our family Christmas gathering was also canceled, and it was something my younger brother and I look forward to since we saw all our cousins and exchanged presents. While the snow and ice were exciting, we were kind of trapped in our house with no place to go. Aunt Yvonne invited us over for supper one night. My dad had to use an ice pick to break the ice from his truck's door handle, so we could open the door and all pile in the truck and drive about 1/8 of a mile on the icy road to their house. I think it took us about 10 minutes to drive what usually would have been a 2 minute drive.

She made delicious Brunswick Stew, which we'd never had before. My mom still uses her recipe when she makes it. It might seem like a small gesture, but it meant the world to us.

Aunt Yvonne leaves behind her husband of 51 years, three sons and six grandchildren. She was the true rock of her family, and I know it's going to hard for them during this holiday season. At least heaven will enjoy some delicious Brunswick Stew. We love you, and we'll miss you Aunt Yvonne.

Climbing Clingman's Dome

On Saturday, we visited Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The leaves have already changed color and are starting to fall off the trees in the mountains, but it's still a beautiful site to see. It was a clear day with hardly a cloud in the sky, so we decided to drive up to the highest point in the Smokies, Clingman's Dome.

We then climbed the steep half-mile walk to the observation tower and were able to see more than 100 miles in each direction because of how clear it was, which is rare since it's often quite cloudy at 6,643 feet. It was the perfect day for such an experience.

The road to Clingman's Dome is closed Dec. 1-March 31 due to the winter weather. It was a cool 35 degrees up there Saturday afternoon, and we saw ice and some snow since it had rained the night before.











The above photo shows Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge down in the valley. Look for the small white structures, and those are the towns, which tells you how high up we are!












This is what Gatlinburg looks like from a bit closer. We stopped at an overlook on the Gatlinburg by-pass on our way back home.








The shots below were taken while driving through the park.






Just another reason why we LOVE living in this gorgeous area!