High points from El Camino Real

We are exactly two weeks away from Christmas and some folks along El Camino Real that haven’t gotten their Christmas shopping done are beginning to panic. Everything will be all right, it always is. Christmas has a way of making things right. And if it isn’t right you can always take it back and enjoy the after Christmas sales.
I’m going to give you your six bits’ worth of news and then I think I’ll start thinking about doing some Christmas shopping. I’m not procrastinating, I’m doing product research.
The Christmas parades throughout the county have drawn huge crowds this year and there have been lots of people participating.
By the time all of us politicians get through riding in Christmas parades our smilers and wavers are going to be worn out. I think I’m going to frown from Christmas ‘til New Years, just to give my smiler a rest. It’s great to see so many people excited about Christmas this year.

Don’t forget the First Baptist Church in Alto is having their Christmas Cantata, 6:30 p.m.,Sunday, Dec. 15.
Titus Hudson celebrated his second birthday out at the family farm on El Camino Real on Saturday.

Titus had a rough start two years ago when he came into the world several months early and wasn’t much bigger than your hand.
Lots of answered prayers brought him through all of it and now he is a little two year old.
It’s funny, our son Garrett brought his son Sawyer, and Ben Johnson brought his daughter, Zoey. It seems like yesterday when we were having birthdays with Titus’s dad Josh, Ben, and Garrett. It’s great to grow up in a little place where you get the chance to raise your children with your friends.

Happy birthday, Titus!

All my life I’ve heard that you better be really nice to kids growing up because someday they might be your doctor or the one taking care of you at the nursing home.
I never worried too much about it until last week, when I found out that Luke Johnson is now Dr. Luke Johnson and is going to be practicing medicine at UT Health East Texas in Rusk.
I have been knowing Luke ever since he was born and have picked at him, tried to embarrass him, and aggravated him in every way possible his whole life.

I kept it up even while he was going to med school, but I never figured he would come home to be a doctor of family medicine in Rusk.

I guess now I’ll have to take my chances.
All of us who know Luke couldn’t be any prouder of this fine young man for choosing to come home and work in a rural clinic with the people he knows and loves rather than in some fancy hospital in a big city.

Welcome home, Dr. Johnson! Turn my head and cough? I don’t think so.

If I have an extra big grin on my face when you see me this week, it’s because our youngest son, Creager, will be graduating Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University on Friday.
It’s a great feeling to have all three of our boys out of college with their degrees. They all three held jobs and worked hard to get through school.
I know a college degree isn’t a magic ticket to fame and fortune, but it is a great accomplishment in life’s journey.

I’ve always encouraged young people to do their best in whatever profession they choose, but most of all be happy.
Congratulations Creager! You’ve made us proud again.

As soon as the holidays are over it’s going to be time to start thinking about the Cherokee County Junior Livestock Show.

The Alto Buyers Group will be hosting their annual Chili cook-off supper and dessert auction on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Alto Volunteer Fire Department.

Come out to enjoy some great chili for a low price that includes drinks, crackers, chips and all the rest of the fixins for a good chili supper.
The dessert auction will follow the supper. If you are planning on entering your chili in the contest you need to make enough to feed 20 people.

The dessert auction produced some outstanding entries last year, so I expect an even better selection for this year’s auction.

We’ve got some great cooks in Alto and they really show out for this. All proceeds go to help our FFA, Junior FFA and 4H kids with their projects at the county show. This is fun you don’t want to miss, so be sure and mark your calendar.

I guess I better wind this up so there will be room left in the paper for all the Santa Claus letters and campaign ads. If you have anything you need told before the year’s out, then you best be getting to telling me about it because we are rapidly running out of this year.
I’ll see ya next week!
And remember, Kind people are the best kind of people.