On the agenda for today was the Auto Center's annual pilgrimage to UGA's wonderful Cook's Holiday Christmas buffet. UGA's Dining Services department has been holding this event since 1986. My shop discovered it in 2013 and has attended ever since.

This year's event was held at the Bolton Dining Commons on campus.

After many years of being held at the Village Summit at the Joe Frank Harris Commons, the event was moved to the new Bolton Dining Commons after it opened in 2015.

This year marks the return of the Cook's Holiday to the Bolton Dining Commons after a one year hiatus thanks to extensive construction near Bolton in 2018.

Our group arrived and got in line with everyone else.

And there was quite a line !

We normally wait in line for around 15 minutes before the General Seating session is opened. But this time goes by quickly.

As they do every year, the Dining Services staff did a great job with the Christmas decorations.

The whole building was filled with Christmas trees, stockings, wrapped gifts, lights, and poinsettias.

A LOT of poinsettias !

Our group waiting in line.

Waiting in line gave us a great view of the dessert preparation area.

Dessert prep area.

Dessert prep area.

In addition to the multitude of decorations in the building, the windows were also painted this year.

All of the events celebrated during this time of year were represented.

The Menorah next to the Christmas tree made for an interesting visual.

The Menorah next to the Christmas tree sitting behind a bulldog made for an even better visual.

The line began to move once people were starting to be seated. We still had a ways to go, though.

No worries, though. The Bolton staff had the Christmas Fireplace playing on the monitor to keep everyone in line warm.

The Christmas Fireplace.

More poinsettias, this time of the yellow variety.

UGA's Bolton Dining Commons.

Inching our way closer to the entrance.

The Bolton staff did a great job with the Christmas decorations.

As predicted, our time in line passed by quickly. It took a few minutes for the Bolton staff to find room for our group of 19.

But before long, we were being lead up the stairs to the second floor.

The seating at Bolton is different than it was at the Village Summit. The middle of the dining area at Joe Frank Harris featured several very long tables next to each other. This allowed our entire group to be seated together, albeit packed in like sardines.

The seating at Bolton is more like traditional restaurant seating. Instead of one long table, we were separated into groups of four, all of which were in the same vicinity.

But the best thing about sitting in this part of the building was that the buffet was, literally, right around the corner. Let's eat !

The Cook's Holiday went through a few years of growing pains after it moved to the Bolton Dining Commons. The biggest issue seems to have been were to put the buffet line. Initially, the buffet sat along the center path in the main dining area. And while this may seem like a good idea on paper, the end result was a large number of people all gathered within the room's travel lanes. It didn't work nearly as well in practice.

This year, the buffet line was moved to its own room, like it was at the Village Summit. This significantly cut down on congestion through the seating areas.

Inside the room were two separate but identical buffet lines, with each being divided into a series of stations. People entering the buffet line first passed through the turkey station, followed by the ham station seen in the photo above.

My personal favorite, however, was the brisket station.

A number of people in our group felt the same way !

I quickly became friends with the chef at the brisket station like I do every year.

Next was a vegetarian/vegan station.

The last station was for shrimp & grits.

The enter-through-one-door-exit-through-another strategy combined with having two buffet lines worked very well. Congestion was kept to a minimum.

Live music is always part of the event. This year, the musicians were playing in the buffet room instead of in the middle of the seating area.

The goal for our feast each year is the same: To sufficiently stuff yourself so you are unable to be productive in any manner when you return to work.

I always expect everyone to put forth his/her best effort in reaching this goal. And our group did not disappoint.

Everyone enjoyed the food and stuffed themselves accordingly.

Somehow I managed to capture Felicia, Angel, and Larry all in mid-chew. Don't know how I did that.

And with that, our annual Christmas feast had come to an end. Time to head back to the shop for a nap.