The Holiday Season In Texas

We have enjoyed a beautiful, warm fall in Hillsboro. Our friends for over 40 years, Lynn and Annette, from San Diego visited us soon after we returned from our travels in late October. We lived near them in Louisville and Northern Virginia. In November we flew to Ohio for the wedding of Gloria’s youngest nephew, Doug and his beautiful bride, Allie. All four of Gloria's sibling were in attendance.

December was most eventful. Jerry attended many practices and sang in our church cantata. Our North Texas Airstream Community (NTAC) annual business meeting was a big success as was the catered dinner held that evening. The ladies’ tea was attended by over 200 women—both Airstreamers and women from the community. This is an annual dressy affair, and our clubhous

e never looked prettier. Several of us men served as parkers and were granted our own “private room” complete with coffee, punch, and goodies. Jerry and the other guys were glad for the privacy. For over 40 of us who were not with family on Christmas Day, we had a potluck communal feast. In between the various holiday events, we played lots of Bridge and Joker at the clubhouse. The Tuesday night potluck dinners are always well-attended.

We ushered in the New Year with our Texas daughter, Stephanie, and her family. Husband, Steve, an independent contractor, had worked out a two-night (Dec. 28-29) bartering deal for us to stay at a quaint little, tastefully decorated B& B on the Brazos River close to their home near Wimberly. We enjoyed great food prepared by Stephanie and played lots of table games with the grandchildren, Jack, Lucie, and Lincoln. On Dec. 30 we made a four-hour drive to the home of Steve’s mother, Ruth Ann, near Palacios. Her spacious home is one of the nicest located in a little fishing village on a bay. One can see the Gulf of Mexico from there on a clear day. The house (shown at left) is ideally suited for company. Steve’s sister’s family of five also arrived for the New Years celebration. There were more games, fireworks, merriment, and eating. The temperature reached 75 degrees, and the gorgeous bay sunsets were splendid. (See Ruth Ann’s boat in the foreground.) The celebrating ended on September 2 with our honoring Stephanie on her 48th birthday.

Today we had a major victory. Gloria, whose health is frail at times, earned her Curves t-shirt for having performed 500 workouts. Many of these have been in other states as we travel. Gloria keeps on keeping on, even though any form of exercise can be exhausting. She never gives up, and her faith is strong.48^th birthday. We then drove over 300 miles on mostly back roads to reach Hillsboro.

There are many places we could have chosen to live a few years ago when downsizing our home. However, we are most thankful the Lord led us here. We feel snug and secure in our small brick home in a gated community with other friendly Airstreamers. Our trailer is protected under an RV port, and the weather is great, except during July and August when we are not here anyway. We really like our church, which is clearly visible from our front door. The elegant tower on our Hill County Courthouse melodiously emits Christian hymns at noontime. The dozen or so traffic lights in Hillsboro are a rare inconvenience, and we are glad to be away from the mass gridlock in the Greater Washington Area. We have a Wal-Mart less than a mile away. When we yearn for the city life, Fort Worth and Dallas are only an hour away as are two major airports. If all of the above were not enough, our home taxes are low, and there are no vehicle taxes. Fuel is 20 cents cheaper than the national average. How could we beat it? No wonder so many people are moving to Texas every day.

We would like to tell you that this lovely grapefruit tree grows in our backyard, but we actually found it while taking a walk a few days ago in the little village where we celebrated New Years (see above). The smiling, toothless, little lady who owns it could not resist our lavish praise of her tree and gave us three large, pink beauties, which were as tasty as they appear to be.