Last of the Holidays 2008

So I'm a little behind in posting pictures from my time off over the holidays. As usual not much happened at the Smith house for New Year's Eve. I can count on about 2 fingers the number of times I've stayed awake until midnight to ring in the new year. It's just not for me. It's so anti-climactic, and I'd rather just sleep. Unless I'm at a really cool party, so I won't rule out the possibility. The kids shot off some fireworks in the backyard, and dumb ol' Brucester tried to eat them. I should've just let him -- that woulda learnt him.

I went to my friend Christine Hall's new studio/gallery opening last night. What a beautiful place! She's an amazing photographer and has made quite the reputation for herself.

On a different note, Jarrod got his first cell phone. I always said he could get a phone when he got a J.O.B. to pay for it, but he's at that age when he's starting to go places with friends and we have to be able to contact him. Of course Abigail wants one now.

She's a Poet and I Didn't Know It

I ordered a watch band from a company in NY last week. When it arrived I was so impressed by the packaging I just had to take a picture and share. It's a nice blue box about 12" long,embossed with the the store logo and held together by a silver elastic band. Inside was a plastic tube containing the watch band. It would've been just fine if the company had placed the watch band in an envelope and dropped it in the mail, but presented the way it was really made me feel like I was opening something special.

In a related story, Abigail presented Amy and me with a present. Since it's January she couldn't find any flowers that were alive so she picked some weeds (it's the thought that counts, right?). Not content just to hand us the weeds with the roots and dirt still attached, she placed them nicely in blue box along with a poem:

"This is for you.

Your eyes are blue.

Your skin is white in the 

sun light.

And in the morning

we will go out to eat

with a beat to go with it.

And when we are done

we will lay our heads down

in the light sun.

And if you like this sentence

circle

YES or NO

and then open 

the package.

Happy New Year family.

I will love you for

my whole life and again

family."

I think we'll hold onto that forever.

"God Bless the USA"

How apropos this entry is in light that we just witnessed an historic inauguration today! 

No matter if you think the song is hokey (and even if you do you probably shed a tear and caught yourself singing it at least once after 9/11), but when you hear your daughter and her best friend sing it, not to mention see them SIGN it, that'll get you everytime.

Christmas 2008

It's taking me a lot longer to get back in the swing of things after such a nice long vacation, and I've got a lot on my plate right now so unfortunately blogging has taken a backseat.

So Christmas came and went so fast this year. It came a lot faster than usual, and was over in a flash. Or did I just drink too much eggnog and lose a few days? I kid, I kid. 

Anyway, the kids only asked for one thing each, and since they were pretty big items one thing was all they got from Santa. Luckily they have grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins! Jarrod wanted an electric scooter and chose a really cool one that has a radio and iPod adapter. Since he doesn't have an iPod he was just going to use mine, but since I'm freaky about anybody using my stuff for fear of said "stuff" being damaged he has to use Amy's. My iPod is full of awesome songs, but since he can't use mine and because beggars can't be choosers he will just have to put up with Bebe & Cece Winans, Anita Baker and Hank Williams, Jr.

Abigail chose S'mores the robot pony, successor to Butterscotch the robot pony that we didn't give her last Christmas. She can brush S'mores with the plastic brush that was included and feed S'mores the plastic carrot and she can even sit on S'mores. It doesn't walk or anything like that, but it moves it's head and makes noise. Just what every little girl wants: a robot pony. Try as we did to convince her that she would want a scooter when she saw Jarrod's, she insisted on S'mores. "I couldn't get Butterscotch last year and I've waited a whole year!" And there it sits in the middle of her bedroom floor while she's off running the battery down in Jarrod's scooter. There's something to be said for persistence, I suppose.

Festival of Lights

I don't know how we stumbled on this a few years ago,  but we've tried to make it a family tradition since. Hundreds of cars drive bumper-to-bumper, mile-after-mile through James Island State Park to see all the holiday light displays. I know that can be done in many places, but the cool thing about this festival is that in the middle of the park you can get out and visit with Santa, and ride a train through the park, roast marshmallows, stroll through the woods and ride the carousel. There's so much to do! Usually it's so cold I can't feel any of my extremities and the train ride through the forest feels like a ride through frost bite hell, but this year was gloriously warm. 

Weekend in Charleston

I haven't blogged in almost a month so I figured I better snap to it or someone might think I've died or something.

Just before Christmas we headed to Charleston for the weekend. We usually go at least once a year around the holidays to see the Festival of Lights on James Island. I'll never forget when we first moved to Savannah from Atlanta I wanted to take a day-trip over to Charleston since it had been about 8 years since I had last been. We asked Amy's parents if they wanted to go with us. They said yes and offered to drive. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Savannah, if that, so it's not bad. So as soon as we get to Meeting Street Amy's dad says, "Did y'all wanna get out?" If we hadn't said yes, I'm positive we would have headed straight back to Savannah. That's my funny story for the day.

On the way over we stopped on Kiawah Island. I did a wedding there a couple of years ago and just loved the shops in Freshfields Village. It reminds me so much of the town of Celebration in Florida. Very quaint and laid back. One of the shops had a plywood Christmas tree standing on an easel. It was painted all pretty and green and had little ornaments painted on it, too. That's the route we're taking next Christmas. It was like $200, but I feel confident I can make one myself.

Savannah and Charleston are very similar cities, but I really believe Charleston is prettier. And there's way more money. Just walking around the Battery district looking at the Ivy League university decals on the fancy Volvos and Mercedes and BMWs parked outside the historic mansions made me sorry I hadn't decided to be rich. At least I have a Volvo.

We had lunch at California Dreaming. I've been eating there since I was a kid in high school and we would go to journalism conferences in Columbia and order Reese's Dream Shakes and virgin strawberry daiquiris -- I know the wait staff just LOVED us. The food's still good, but I don't know about the daiquiris (honestly). Anyway, I had the ribs. Amy guilted me into saving some for Brucester, who was waiting in the car. Reluctantly I did, but damn if he didn't push the ribs aside so he could eat the fettucini alfredo the kids saved for him. WTH?