Since New Year’s Eve is known as a time for fireworks and tooting your own horn…we decided to take a look back and see what posts y’all seemed to like best before we declare in the very best southern fashion- ‘That’s all she wrote’ for 2018. To be honest, we were amused to see which ones they were… Given that there’s a whole slew of them… why choose the Top Five? Well, the number five is symbolic of Grace… We consider the fact that you read Camellia’s Cottage- a true measure of grace on your part with every single post-you don’t have to read what we write, when you do- well, it’s a kind and gracious thing to do. Also, our mission statement for writing all of this for nearly three years is to present ‘the wit and wisdom, the graciousness and generosity, artistry and beauty of southern people’ to still be relevant today as it was when we first began.  Then, there is a grace note in music- where you have an extra note…give a little extra trill than the score of music called for- we hope to always give you just a little bit more than you expected- a funny story along with a recipe, a beautiful photograph to accompany a project even a bit of trivia or history in our travels along the way.   So, without further ado… here’s the New Year’s Eve countdown of the top 5 posts for 2018…  Drumroll please…

Coming in at Number 5 is none other than Cookbook Therapy… in which I regale my love of reading cookbooks as literature in addition to recipes of course… Find this humor piece at https://camelliascottage.com/2018/01/10/cookbook-therapy/  Enjoy!

In 4th place is one of my personal favorites- Going Away Outfits… which recounts the… dare I say, ‘old custom’ when a bride’s trousseau included a suit or nice dress to wear when leaving for the honeymoon! I totally enjoyed this because it includes some very good friends who were very good sports for sharing photographs! Find this one at https://camelliascottage.com/2018/05/19/ This one, honestly tickled me to write!

In 3rd place for 2018 was a post actually written in 2017 about a southern girl with Alabama ties- whose become a quite famous actress, none other than Sandra Bullock! This post is about a type of Southern lady whom gentlemen tend to admire, entitled – Smart Sassy and Southern… I totally enjoyed sharing this one with you but was also totally floored that it was in the top 5! Find it at https://camelliascottage.com/2017/02/07/smart-sassy-and-southern/

Now, I have to admit I thought y’all loved my grandmother’s cooking and our recipes best of all, however, only one recipe post made the top 5 in 2018! Of course it was a post called Mimi’s Fried Chicken! I shouldn’t be surprised because fried chicken is almost synonymous with Southern Cooking! Find our Number 2 at https://camelliascottage.com/2018/02/03/mimis-fried-chicken/  I was also highly amused that apparently some of you readers and y’all know who y’all are… prefer your own mother’s or grandmother’s methods for frying chicken!

In First Place– now really I shouldn’t be surprised at this one- Sinking Spells… This post was also written in 2017 and consistently it has spoken to women all over the place, though I thought originally that Sinking Spells were particular to the South! Find Sinking Spells – our number one post for 2018 at https://camelliascottage.com/2017/06/12/sinking-spells/ I hope it tickles your funny bone on into 2019!

Happy New Year’s Eve! Wishing you good cooking, loads of laughs and lots of kindness ! Thanks for reading and as always….

Love y’all, Camellia

*Photographs are credited in each of the winning blog posts, with the exception of the cookbooks photograph which was not in the original post, however is a photograph taken by me of some of my personal favorites! Blog posts have not been edited but probably need to be! Let me know, which one is your favorite!

*Top photograph of fireworks is obviously mine!