By the Sea: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year 2012

It is the last day of 2011.

Begin the New Year in a very special way

with your family, friends and loved ones.

May the New Year bring you

health, peace, contentment and friendships.

Paul and I wish you a Happy 2012.

Monday, December 26, 2011

With a few Christmas cards from family and friends, our "Christmas tree", which is a gift bag we received from a friend, and the special gift under our tree received from Paul's son and daughter-in-law, a nice holiday was had by us.

Christmas Eve here in Surfside Beach was quite sunny so we had our breakfast and coffee out on our deck and enjoyed seeing a few dolphins.

Our tradition for the past few years has been to have meat pie for our Christmas Eve meal, before going to Church. Last year, being our first Christmas in the United States, we went in pursuit of our traditional Canadian meal of meat pie but only got strange looks from the store clerks when we asked if they sold meat pie. This year we thought we could still have a pie, and have more luck to find a fresh chicken pot pie. COSTCO did have the chicken pie, but as shoppers of COSTCO know, all things in that store are BIG! After checking a couple more grocery stores in the area to no avail, Paul went back to COSTCO for the "big one"! Here it is, hot out of the oven.....

Yes, there were leftovers, for Boxing Day.

Christmas morning found Paul in a hurry to open our present from under our tree. The Customs label read "digital photo frame" so all our fingers were crossed that it held wedding photos from Tom and Lisa, and it did! We quickly plugged it in and enjoyed the slide show. What a great present.

Next came our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of omelettes and coffee. I do the cooking but Paul does the clean up.

After a lazy afternoon at home, we headed down the beach to Myrtle Beach Resort to visit with our Newfoundland friends. I was waiting in the lobby for Paul to park the car.

Maddie, our wonderful hostess and cook, was busy in her kitchen preparing a traditional turkey dinner for us.

Here we are (L to R): Tony, Cindy, Maddie, Shirley, Bill and Paul enjoying a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Paul and I were very thankful to have shared Christmas day with our friends, and enjoy this wonderful meal.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

Paul and I would like to wish everyone
a very Merry Christmas.
May the day bring you peace and joy.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Brookgreen Gardens

This past Monday Paul and I went back to Brookgreen Gardens to enjoy its beauty and peacefulness after all the hustle and bustle of The Nights of a Thousand Candles was over. No matter when you visit these Garden, it is always magical.

These are some of the flowers from the exhibit galleries.

Christmas Flower - Poinsettia

Air Flowers (placed in a Styrofoam ball)

The Gardens still had the decorations in place from Nights of a Thousand Candles. It was actually rather interesting to see the gardens with its decorations in the daylight.

The Oak Garden, with trees more than 250 years old

With the sun shining on these glass hurricane lanterns, it looked like ice. It was so pretty.

The reflection of the lanterns in the water has everyone wondering how this happens. I was told it was the magic of the Christmas elves. I believe....

The Children's Garden was once again one of my favourite places to visit.

Reflection in the fountain

Little rubber ducks in the fountain

Holly Tree

I always enjoy seeing what flowers are in bloom in the garden. I thought it was more like spring in the Garden, rather than winter.

Paul and I have enjoyed Brookgreen Gardens so much, during our visits to Surfside Beach over the past four years, that we have now purchased an annual membership to the Gardens. This will give us more opportunity to enjoy this wonderful place.