Friday the 13th (December 13, 2013)

Despite it being Friday the 13th, at the end of today Joshua said, “This was the best day ever!” (the great thing about children is how many ‘best’ days they have). We got up in the morning and went to the beach. When we left the house it was 37 degrees. It might have been 40 degrees when we got there. The boys wanted to take off their shoes and socks. Being the responsible parent I am, I responded, “Of course. Walking barefoot on freezing cold sand and putting your feet in freezing cold water is the only logical thing to do on a beach.” We all went barefoot and raced down the beach. Within an hour, Joshua was freezing. I held him for a while to try and warm him up but he, the boy who never gets cold, stayed cold. I gave him my jacket and we all walked back to the car.

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That afternoon, the tiny local movie theatre (only open Fridays and Saturdays) was showing It’s a Wonderful Life. I have never seen the movie although it is a holiday classic (this fact comes up every year. Matt invariably mentions the movie, I say that I’ve never seen it, every year he then expresses great surprise about this fact and says I must see it. It’s our own little holiday tradition). It was a great movie. We went back to the apartment for dinner and then decided to go to Brookgreen Garden for their annual display of Nights of 1,000 Candles. We had not been yet but it is listed as one of the top 10 public gardens in the US. All I can say is that it was absolutely amazing – tens of thousands of lights hanging down from massive trees covered in Spanish moss, hundreds of candles in the recesses of brick walls, candles perched on tiny platforms every few feet across huge pools of water, candles in lanterns hanging down from huge archways. And, throughout the gardens, massive stone sculptures and smaller marble ones. The whole effect was astonishing – I could have walked around there all night. (Below is a daytime photo of the same place).

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