christmastime at the cedars

this weekend was the last for our favorite B&B, the cedars in beaufort, nc. on sunday the last guests checked out and they locked the doors for the last time. since the hippie and i have been living togehter, we have gone to the cedars for weekend getaways a couple of times a year. they know us, and we feel like their house is an extension of our own, but without all the chores. the sad thing is that one of the owners have sold out for personal reasons, which we definitely understand. unfortunately the people who bought the inn opted to close it and turn it into condos, which just makes my skin crawl. we are talking about two VERY old and well-keps houses, one built in 1768, and the other in 1814. the new owners are planning to take all the antiques up to their mountain home, gut the insides, and sell them as 2 condos each. blah. luckily we were able to reschedule a few things and go down there for one last weekend. it was FABULOUS as always, if a little bittersweet. i'm actually glad we went for the next-to-last weekend instead of the last. i think i would have been too sad.

by total coincidence, we happened to be in beaufort when the town was holding all manner of christmas frivolity. the shops were open later than usual, some with refreshments and drinks. and the best part was that went to the annual christmas flotilla, which was a blast! all these boats decorated to the HILT for christmas, sailing in from morehead city. people were lined up all along the waterfront 5 and 6 deep. a brass band blasted christmas carols while people laughed and talked and hung out, and there was more than a little drunken frivolity from the boat owners as well as the crowd. we stood outside and watched the whole thing and then went out for an excellent dinner at sharpie's, one of beaufort's many fine restaurants. we also did some poking about, some massive breakfasting, some meeting of strangers, some napping, and some sitting still. it was fabulous and relaxing and utterly the Right Thing.

here's my favorite picture from the whole weekend. you can click on it to get to the rest of the pictures if you wanna.

nevermind that it's taken me a whole week to get around to posting about last weekend. i'll get around to posting about THIS weekend sometime this week. i've just been SLAMMED, both at work and at home. i actually took friday off just to run errands--it's that bad.

how many days till christmas??! somebody send me some valium!