Christmas Dinner

Today I went with Bob and Sally to Weslaco for a free Christmas Dinner at St. Joan of Arc  Hall. It was called Feast of Sharing and it is a very popular yearly event sponsored by H.E.B which is a huge grocery chain here.  They usually feed about 4000 people at this location alone. They also sponsor  dinners at various other locations around Southern Texas and Mexico and feed approximately 250,000 people Christmas Dinner each December.

We got there early so we were among the first ones to eat. They feed about 300 people at each sitting. That's Bob and Sally in the foreground.

 

 Once everyone gets sat down they had various dignitaries from around the Valley give a short speech, and then the Honor Guard from Weslaco Emergency Services marched in, planted the flag and everyone stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.




After a few more speeches, food was served by a mass of volunteers. Amazingly, all of us were brought a piping hot dinner in a matter of minutes. We were entertained by a young girl  who sang while we ate our dinner.  We even had apple pie for dessert!

 

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After  we finished eating we went outside to listen to the Mexican band that was playing and enjoyed some free popcorn.

 

I am not sure what kind of accordian this fellow is playing but it sounded very good.

 

Of course, they were singing in Spanish so I did not quite understand the lyrics. However, that problem is soon to be resolved as Anna and I have made a friend in the park who is soon to become our  Spanish tutor.  Although we have been practising with tapes, it has been a bit problematic as  here they speak something called Tex-Mex which is slightly different from the  Spanish on our tapes.

 

I sorely regretted not taking my sunglasses today as the sun was very, very,  bright. Sunglasses and/or a hat are essential items here. Luckily, Sally lent me an extra pair of sunglasses she had in the truck.

 

After a bit of grocery shopping and a stop at Wendys for a free frosty, we returned to the park. I spent the rest of the day in my chair outside the Motorhome with a good book,  leaving my chair only long enough to do a few laps around the park on my bike.

Oh, I also had to provide massive amounts of sympathy to Anna today. She had what hopefully will be the last of her dental work done this morning and spent the rest of the day in  considerable  pain.

 

Stay warm my friends.