Rumour has it there's a solstice happening

Happy winter solstice to those of you who are a) in the northern hemisphere and b) inclined to observe solstices.

To those in the southern hemisphere: may you survive bushfire season safe and sound.
(For some reason, the solstice to me is associated with If You Didn't Know It Already, Bushfire Season Is Here. Yes, I'm paranoid.)

CRUCIAL QUESTION FOR THE INTERNETS

Dear Internets: I am very fond of you, and the interesting things you do with the English language. Emoticons, for example: far from a blight upon the page, I find them a most useful addition to text-based communication.

As I'm sure you know, O Internets, there are strict rules of English punctuation. Some of them, such as those governing the relationship of punctuation marks in series, can be a matter for heated debate.

So I must ask you: in a well-constructed sentence, shall the smiley face be placed before, or after, the full stop? If one places a smiley face inside of a parenthetical statement at the end of a sentence, how does one deal with the resulting overdose of punctuation (your sentence will look like this :))?

Please deliver a rule at once, the ambiguity is causing me distress :(. (?)

Yours,

Amy