Thinking about taking a long weekend trip to the mountains in North GA. We (4 adult women 40-55) are looking for a trip to somewhere that will put us in the Christmas spirit. What would be the best town to visit that would give us that old fashioned Christmas feel. Maybe a nice downtown shopping area with coffee shops, restaurants, boutiques etc.

I guess Helen is decorated for Christmas.
http://www.helenga.org/eventcalendar

Have you thought about Highlands, not too far away in North Carolina?

Burnsville, NC near Asheville (another decorated for Christmas at the Biltmore).

We enjoy Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA and Stone Mountain Christmas in Stone Mountain, Ga (1 hr. North of Atlanta). Both of these places have Christmas events/holiday lights and they are about 1 hr. 45 min. from each other.

The small mountain downtown of Clayton is wonderful with lots of shops and restaurants, including Fortify, one of the 100 best restaurants in the country.
Stay in Clayton or Dillard or the surrounding area. It's on the way to Highlands, previously mentioned.
www.explorerabun.com

Thanks for the replies. We ended up going to Dahlonega and loved it. It is was the perfect weekend getaway at Christmas. Quaint, beautifully decorated downtown area, with a musician playing Christmas carols on his trumpet on one corner and Santa on another corner. Nice restaurants to choose from as well. We decided to ride over to Helen and the drive & scenery didn't disappoint, however Helen did! Never waist time in that town. 2 words...tourist trap! Of course if T shirt & souvenir shops are your thing then Helen is your place. Spent one hour there & headed straight back to Dahlonega. But like I said the mountain scenery was worth the trip.