Thursday December 24, 2009-Serendipity Bay RV Park

We woke pretty late this morning, having been up a lot overnight because of the howling winds. They rocked the trailer, caused things to go bump in the night, which made me put on clothes and go outside to check on what had hit the trailer. Someones trash can was in the street behind us and the power cord was slapping up against the trailer, causing some of the noise. It was a very worrisome night but we came through without any damage.

I went for a walk down the seawall. It's not the Galveston seawall, but then it doesn't have to protect the city from the Gulf of Mexico, only Palacios Bay. The seawall is about a mile and a half long with a pier and pavilion the reaches out into the bay. I noticed a plack that said that it was first built in 1936 and redone in 1988. The seawall runs from a small marina near this park to the east to the Baptist Encampment that has been here for many years. I went there for three or four years in my late teens when I lived in Galveston. As I recall, the buildings that we stayed in were wooden, two story buildings with no air conditioning, bunk beds with no storage and large open showers. The boys stayed in one building and the girls in another separate building. I don't remember how many buildings there were, but do remember meeting people from all over the state when we were there. I made a lot of friends there.

When I got back home, Stella was cooking for tonight's Christmas party at Jana and Chad's house. She put our gifts into bags and got everything ready. The weather remained cool and very windy all day. I went out late in the evening and took some photos around the park. When I get more taken, I will post them here.

It was good to see the relatives again. We sat around visiting and munching on the goodies that everyone had brought. We always joked about Stella's sister Elaine always being late, but she was there very early and almost an hour earlier than Kim and Jeremy and the boys. When they finally arrived, we had our large gift exchange. We got a nice weather emergency radio, which is one of the things we had asked for. The gifts are really for the kids, and they all loved it! Michael and Lisa's little girl Savannah opened her gifts right in front of me. It was very nice and fun to see a two year old tear into her gifts and the delight on her face as she opened them. This is what Christmas giving is all about.

I don't know how many fireworks were bought, but the kids all had fun going outside in the cold to pop firecrackers and set off rockets. I guess this is just one of the benefits of living out in the country, you can do fireworks to your heart's content and not worry about some city ordinance against them. I remember when I was a kid shooting fireworks and no one got hurt or set someone's house on fire and the fireworks then were much more powerful than those sold today. The roman candles hardly go 8-10 feet and the firecrackers only snap. Nothing like the ones we had.

I'll get off my fireworks soapbox now to wish everyone a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So long.