back to the daily grind

The worst part about holidays isn't the excess of money spent, the mass quantities of calories consumed (that's actually my favorite part--which is probably why I love Thanksgiving so much), or even the stress of all the planning. No, the worst part about the holidays is the Monday morning following the four (or more) glorious days of vacation--the cold, early morning when mundane, cruel reality slaps you hard in the face. Worse still is the day after that Monday, when you are sitting at your desk and have the depressing realization that it's only Tuesday. Why does time go so slowly following a holiday? Sigh. Here I am, plugging away, counting down the days till Christmas (and also till Friday).

Okay, lament aside, here are a few pictures from my Thanksgiving weekend, spent down in my favorite place on earth, my hometown of Beaufort.

This is at Granny's, and typical of my dad: somehow amidst the chaos he is quietly reading, while surrounded by animals. Seriously--typical. I love it.

My sister Jillian and I (and Colton, but he's not in the picture, sorry!) went into Port Royal and drove past our old house, which happened to be unoccupied. We, of course, decided to take the chance to look around, and this is in the backyard of the place we grew up. Somewhere under our feet is the golden bird statue-thing of my mom's that I buried as treasure (I made a map, but somehow could never find it again). Good memories.

I remembered which windows in the house never locked (you'd think after all these years that somebody would have fixed them, but no--that's the South for you), and viola! We were in (for some reason once you've lived in a place, and felt totally a part of it, you always feel entitled and welcome to visit--even if in reality it's an old house you have no right to enter)! This is our old living room--check out the awesome wood paneling. Love it. :)

Then we drove down to the Sands, where I played as a kid for hours at a time. Yep, it's still beautiful, even in winter.

The dock at the Sands.

Well, now it's back to work. It's time for me to pick out a new book to read online (Kim was good after I got through the first couple of chapters. It seems like all old books are like that).