Before I started at UGA in 2009, the Auto Center's version of a Holiday feast followed the time-honored tradition of "Everybody bring something." Tables would be set up in the shop where we could step away from the real world for a little while to enjoy a nice meal together. The only issue with this was the shop, itself. No matter what was done, we were still eating in the same space we did daily. The notion of a "special" Holiday meal just wasn't there.

We changed things up in 2010 and 2011 by gathering at a local restaurant. The change of atmosphere and greater variety of food were offset by having to travel somewhere off campus to a place that wasn't able to meet our expectations as well as we had hoped. The results were mixed, which lead us back to the "Everybody bring something" format for 2012.

I've written many, many times in the past of how Christmas and I didn't get along. But after more than two decades of feeling this way, I discovered that it was possible to enjoy the Holiday, but I just wasn't doing it correctly. Life dramatically improved once I figured this out.

Several years of experimentation lead me to the realization that NOBODY does a buffet like a casino. When I lived in Columbia, Missouri, I had Harrah's 1-1/2 hours to the east in St. Louis, and the Ameristar 2 hours to the west in Kansas City. Both became the favorite way to celebrate any occasion such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, or even Saturday night after work.

Moving to Georgia put the nearest casino buffet, Harrah's in Cherokee, North Carolina, around 2-1/2 hours away. Driving anywhere is never a big deal for me, (see my Colorado and Wyoming road trip galleries elsewhere on this site). So when fleet manager, Cris, asked the inevitable question, I suggested a road trip to Cherokee. Logistically, this was never going to work. However, the seed had been planted.

Cris did some searching and came across an event called the Cook's Holiday, a buffet presented by UGA's Dining Services department. The idea of a full service Holiday buffet made everyone smile, and the fact that it was on campus made it workable. So on this day, my shop made the 1 mile journey across campus to the Joe Frank Harris Commons for a proper Holiday feast.

UGA's Dining Services department has been hosting its annual Cook's Holiday feast since 1986.

The event is open to the public, and has been very well received, which explained the large crowd.

Our group got in line made our way upstairs to the Village Summit dining area.

Dining Services wanted everyone in our group to be present before we could be seated.

We had a chance to check out the host of Holiday decorations while we waited. The Village Summit staff did a great job with the decor.

We also got to take in some live music.

With everyone present and accounted for, it was then up to the Village Summit staff to find an area for our group.

We made our way to the top of the stairs.

The second floor of the Village Summit is a large open dining area.

The Village Summit staff did a great job with the decorations.

Lots of Christmas decorations.

Passing by the multitude of Christmas decorations.

Our group was seated in the far corner of the dining area, which was great.

We were able to get several tables next to each other in the far corner of the dining area.

Cris said a few words of thanks before turning us loose on the buffet.

The buffet line was set up in its own room with a separate entrance and exit. The salad bar was located outside of the buffet entrance.

Today's menu was posted at the buffet entrance.

Inside the buffet room were two identical buffets with each having two lines. This allowed four lines of people to pass through the buffet at once. This is a brilliant design that worked well with the large crowd.

With that many people passing through the buffet lines, the Village Summit staff was quite busy keeping the serving stations full.

The goal for today's feast was to stuff yourself sufficiently so you are unable to be productive in any way when you return to work.

I'm happy to report that everyone put forth his/her best effort in reaching this goal.

Once finished with the entrees, we attacked the two dessert stations that were setup in the dining area near the buffet exit.

I believe there were two chocolate fountains available today.

The second dessert table was setup across from the other one.

Dessert is always a favorite. So both of the dessert tables were fairly crowded most of the time.

One of two dessert stations.

With everyone sufficiently stuffed, it was time to head back to the shop. Some of us gathered for a group picture before leaving.

Trying, unsuccessfully, to get everyone to smile.

Kenny, you blinked !

Let's try it again !

There we go ! A great ending to a wonderful Holiday feast.