Luckily Jeff got me some puzzles for Christmas, so we have had something to do to keep us busy while this brutally cold weather we’re having is keeping us inside. Here is the first one we worked – 1000 pieces.

During our ice storm last week our trees were so beautiful – especially since the electricity didn’t go out during it :-). I wish the pictures had turned out better.

Our home base for the weekend was Brookwood Inn, an old school motor court owned by friends of Boo and Shea’s. They gave us a fantastic rate on the rooms ($60, to celebrate Boo’s 60th birthday), and it was such a cool place. It was so cold while we were down there that I forgot to go out and get any pictures of the outside, but it is on the National Registry of Historic Places. I did get a picture of our room right as we were checking out Sunday morning.

On Saturday, the day of Boo’s birthday party, we all got up & met at a pancake house for a yummy breakfast. Then Jeff & I drove around a little bit before going back to the motel, and found the venue where the party was going to be held. We were so excited to see the sign on the outside, & I got this picture. Alas, apparently it used the very last bit of my camera charge, because when we got to the party that night, my battery was dead – so no pictures of the actual party. Sigh. It was a fun, fun time, though.

The night before Boo’s birthday we met Boo & several of his friends at a restaurant named Russells. It was a really good time. I got this picture of Boo with Sherri & Gary’s granddaughter Jade.

After we finished supper we headed to Boo & Shea’s friend Lorton’s house to keep the good times rolling. I got this picture of the three of them there. Fun times.

The Gardens were beautiful in a whole different way at night. We came upon the cranberry bog, which was very cool, and very festive. The Gardens aren’t open during the day while the light show is going on, but the lady we talked to said that in the middle of the day, when the sun hit it, it absolutely glowed. Wouldn’t that be something to see?

Sherri and Meg walking through the lights – magical.

I have wanted to go to this event since the first time I heard about it years ago, and conveniently enough it was still going on when we headed to Murrells Inlet earlier this month to celebrate Boo’s 60th birthday. It was as beautiful as I always knew it would be. Here are a couple of pictures. I took both of these when we first arrived, before it was completely dark, but it was still just beautiful. All of those candles floating in the pond are real – no batteries. Volunteers light them every day before the park opens. And there are 25,000 strands of lights hanging in the trees around the gardens. Just amazing.

I got virtually no pictures on Christmas day. We didn’t even get by to see Addie & family this year – their schedule had changed a little bit, and it just didn’t work out. We did have a delicious snack lunch with Andrew & Jenny and family, and I got this one picture of Adam showing me the Gamecocks t-shirt that Charlie had gotten for him.

And at Lindee & family’s home for supper that evening I just got this picture of the ice cubes :-). In the ones they used that morning Lindee had put some kind of sprinkles in them, or something, so they were dark green just like a Christmas tree, but I still loved the clear ones we had in our iced tea that night