MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- Saint Nick came and went, and all through the house, the kids are getting bored of their toys and so is your spouse.
It's the same old story every year. As the gleam of Christmas gifts are tarnished in the post-New Year diet dreads, toys fall by the wayside and parents scheme on how to get their kids away from the PlayStation II they now regret buying. But there is a solution that doesn't require a new credit account. In fact, it's so free it doesn't cost a thing.
The solution is a change in scenery and the Lowcountry is rich with destinations sure to astonish everyone and jog the imagination of even the most digitized of children and adults.
First on the short list of many local sites is Old Sheldon Church, located just 16 miles from Beaufort in Gardens Corner, S.C. Picnic tables are even included.
The historic ruins are the remains of one of the oldest churches in the South. The gravestones surrounding the structure tell of the English immigrants who settled the area, including prominent South Carolinian colonist William Bull who is buried inside the walls of the church ruins.
"These ruins were once Church of Prince William's Parish," said Robert Latimer Hurst, a writer and Southern historian who has documented much of the area's history. "It was built between 1745 and 1755, and followed the Greek temple imitation in America, with impressive Tuscan columns, towering walls and massive arches.
"The British army burned the church in 1799 during the Revolutionary War. It was rebuilt in 1826 and renamed Sheldon Church of Prince William's Parish, only to face conflagration again at the hands of Sherman's arsonists in 1865 during the Civil War."
Today, only the sun sets the historic church aflame. Though history doesn't threaten to come alive very often, imaginations can.
A little further away, on St. John's Island near Charleston, S.C., stands the next choice in impressive picnicking under the shade of what could very well be the oldest tree east of the Mississippi.
Standing just 65 feet tall, the Angel Oak of Angel Oak Park's impressiveness comes in its massive shade covering of 17,000 square feet and a limb 89 feet long, and nearly 12 feet around.
"Mere words and pictures do not serve it justice," said 'Scarlet,' a Charleston historical actor with a panache for the dramatic and a love for the tree. "One must stand beneath the massive tree to experience its true magnificence and exquisite presence."
The live oak forests of the Lowcountry were highly valued for shipbuilding in the 18th and 19th centuries, but Justis Angel who owned the land in 1810 spared it from the saw and gave it his name.
Time took its toll on Angel Oak and by the time Charleston acquired the tree, many limbs had to be removed but the tree, believed to be 1,400 years old, withstood the abuse of people and elements.
"As a young girl, I played tirelessly on the expansive, infinite limbs for hours on end!" said Scarlet who grew up near the park. "We pretended ... sometimes the gigantic limbs were moats, and the tree was a castle, the limbs were gangplanks on a pirate ship ... or we would just straddle the limbs and pretend they were elephants while we were on a jungle safari. Even the adults played on this tree!"
Even if the day trip can only be for an hour or so, and your idea of a picnic lunch is a brown bag from Sonic, your spouse would probably enjoy getting out of the house and your kids would actually have to put down the PlayStation controls and listen to you for a change. The fresh air will do them some good.