High points from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real are busy making plans for Thanksgiving and trying to figure out who is going to bring what and talk about the ones they know aren’t going to bring anything.
I wish I could write about such as this in my six bits’ worth of news, but I know my wife would censor it for sure, so I guess I’ll just be on the safe side and tell you what I can.
You’ll have to figure out the rest on your own.

It doesn’t seem like it was but a few weeks ago that I was telling you about Willie Skinner celebrating his 102 birthday down in the Weeping Mary community.

Willie finished this life’s journey last week and moved on. His funeral services are on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 11 a.m.

He lived in Alto for all 102 years of his life. Keep his family in your prayers this week as they honor his long life.
Die hard Yellowjacket fans spent Thursday digging through their closets and cedar chests hunting their biggest coats and blankets before heading to the Tomato Bowl to watch the Alto Yellowjackets take on the Cayuga Wildcats.

They say it was the first playoff football game that had been played in the Tomato Bowl in 16 years. The Yellowjackets christened it good with a 62-0 win over the Wildcats.

I hope playoff football games in the Tomato Bowl become a regular tradition.

A Cherokee County team winning makes it even better.

This week The Alto Yellowjackets will travel to Lufkin to take on the Joaquin Rams.

Playoff football games are generally always cold, so keep your cold weather gear handy and hopefully we’ll still be wearing it in the middle of December. Go Yellowjackets!
I talked to my friend Mary Bennett on Saturday and wished her a happy birthday. Mary has been a resident of Alto since 1983. She was surprised by a 90th birthday celebration in Pasadena, Texas, home of her son Rick and wife, Celinda. Family and friends gathered on Nov. 17 and shared a luncheon given in her honor.

Due to her home being destroyed by April 13 tornado, she has relocated to Pasadena where she formerly lived and worked at Richey Elementary and Sam Rayburn High School in the Pasadena School District.

Widow of Carroll Bennett, Jr., who graduated from Alto High in 1945, and retired from Diamond Shamrock Corporation, Deer Park.

Mrs. Bennett enjoys seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren. She gives praise to the Lord Jesus for many blessings including, health, family, friends, her church family and community.

Many kind deeds and prayers followed the spring tragedy and Mary wants to thank all for their thoughtfulness and expressions of love.

She is quick to add a favorite promise from God that is found in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.” I’m glad he prepared a place for her in Pasadena after her house got blown away.

Happy Birthday, Mary!

The hard freeze last week made all the leaves fall off the trees at once.
I ran enough gas through my leaf blower over the weekend to drive to Dallas and back and I still don’t have them all blown off my yard.

I’m not as worried about the leaves as I am my turnip green patch.

It bit them back pretty bad, but I’m hoping they’ll come back.

Well, I said I wasn’t going to say anything about the people who come to Thanksgiving and other big family dinners and don’t bring much of anything but I can’t let it go.

The person that says, “I’ve got a child, and I’m too busy,” usually is the one who volunteers to bring rolls.

Not homemade rolls, but usually the cheap ones in a plastic sack and they are too lazy to even heat them up, and bring them in the sack.

Another good one is the ones that go by Brookshire Brothers and pick up fried chicken two or three days ahead of time and bring it straight out of the ice box. A can of cream corn dumped in a dish with Ritz crackers crumbled on top is not a corn casserole.

I get mad when someone comes in from out of town and brings a pizza. No, we don’t have a pizza place in Alto, but it’s not a luxury to get one, so don’t try to impress the country folks with your fancy Little Caesars five dollar pizza.

It’s Thanksgiving, not a teenager’s birthday or a Super Bowl party. If you don’t want to go to any effort to help do anything for a big family gathering then you would be better off staying home and calling Uber Eats like they do in the big cities.

They will bring food to your house from McDonald’s or Chick-Fil-A and you won’t even have to make any excuses about why you couldn’t cook anything to bring.

I guess the worst ones are the relatives that say they’ll get the paper plates and they run by the Dollar Store on the way and get the cheapest ones they have.

The plates are so flimsy they won’t hold up four potato chips much less a Thanksgiving dinner.

You need to think about these flimsy plates when you start trying to load them up with food you didn’t bring to eat on the rest of the week.

Ok, I guess I’ve ranted enough, but it needed to be said, and every family has these people.

Thank God for all our mothers and grandmothers that knew better, and slaved over hot stoves cooking dressing and pies and making sure everything was just perfect for our holiday feasts.

I guess I’ve covered it all for this issue. If you have some holiday activities that you want everyone to know about then be sure and give me a call. I’ll see ya next week!
And remember, Be who you needed when you were younger.