Thanksgiving and Christmas are fast approaching. The Annual Port O’Connor “Community Thanksgiving Service” was this past Sunday, November 16 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. This Annual Service is rotated each year from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church to Fisherman’s Chapel and finally to First Baptist Church. The Thanksgiving Message is also rotated between the pastors of the three Churches. Fisherman’s Chapel Pastor Erny McDonough delivered this years Thanksgiving Sermon. Special music was provided by Fisherman’s Chapel and the Choir of First Baptist Church. A Special Offering was taken for Thanksgiving and Christmas Baskets, to be distributed to Port O’Connor needy families. If you have never attended one of these services, you have missed a blessing. Next year, in 2015, the date for this Service is November 22, at 6:00 PM at Fisherman’s Chapel and Pastor Donnie Martin of First Baptist Church will deliver the Thanksgiving Message.

The “Operation Christmas Child” Shoe Boxes were dispatched last week for shipment around the World to waiting Children of all ages. The Church shipped 35 Shoe Boxes full of clothing, toys, school supplies, candy and other useful items. The Shoe Boxes will be delivered to Children around the World. Each box will contain a Bible in the language spoken in that Country. Just imagine the excitement each Child will experience when they receive a Shoe Box! Thanks to everyone who filled a Shoe Box this year!

It was good to hear that Sonny Cook is back home and out of the Hospital with his Hip Replacement Problem. As soon as the infection in his hip is corrected, the doctors will begin the task of Hip Replacement again. Sonny will not be walking for 4 to 6 weeks. Pray for Sonny Cook!

The Annual Church Christmas Party and Quarterly “Birthday Bash” will be Sunday Evening, December 7 at 6:00 PM. The Christmas Party will be a “White Elephant Gift Exchange”. This is always a lot of fun. Everyone brings a “GAG” gift or something you can’t live without and when your number is called you select a gift or take one away from someone. Wow! You are asked to bring your favorite finger food and your gag gift.

The Church will celebrate the Church Ordinance of “The Lord’s Supper” on Sunday Morning December 28 in the 11:00 AM Morning Worship Service. Every “Baptized Believer” is invited to participate in this Spiritual Event.

See You In Church Sunday…………….Doyle Adams

My neighbors Parker and Patty are always telling me how proud they are to be a part of Port O’Connor. They say it is a great community and so friendly. Patty recently told me about her Thanksgiving dinner last year at her favorite granddaughter’s house. The young lady had married a military man in July, moved into her first house in August and cooked her first holiday meal last November. Seventeen family members were expected for dinner. Patty suggested to her granddaughter Ashley that she might be taking on a big job for her first holiday meal, but the young lady said she could handle it. Patty had her doubts, so she planned to arrive a little early. As soon as she arrived at the house her fears were confirmed. She saw no dressing for the turkey, and when she asked, Ashley told her that the turkey was already stuffed when she bought it, she could see the little packet inside. Oops. She saw white potatoes and sweet potatoes boiling in the same pot, and Ashley said that it would save her time to cook them together, and she would separate them before mashing. Funny tasting. The tea bags in the lovely glass pitcher had burst open and the tea was full of tea leaves. The green beans were crunchy, the pecan pie was salty, the rolls were soggy and the tub of whipped cream was frozen right next to the pumpkin pie in Ashley’s clean, neat freezer. As Patty walked through the planned menu with Ashley, the young wife was close to tears. Oh, my goodness, she said. You’re right, I can’t do this. It’s too hard. Grandma Patty hugged her close, laughed a little and told her, don’t you know, that’s why I came a day early. I’ll help you and we will get it all perfect. They ate an interesting and less than perfect dinner and then they got busy. They worked and worked, and laughed over some of the horrors of Ashley’s cooking. They stayed up all night, but they recreated the meal that Ashley had planned. In the end, his family and hers sat together at a beautiful table and enjoyed a delicious and lovely meal. No one ever knew that her Grandma had given her a whirlwind cooking lesson on Thanksgiving eve; they just knew that they were all together with lots to be thankful for. This year, Ashley will be at Grandma Patty’s house helping her with the family dinner, but morning sickness may interrupt the schedule. Ashley and Grandma Patty are waiting for the perfect moment in this years’ family celebration to share that news with the rest of the family. I bet nobody cares if the dinner is less than perfect, they will all just be so excited.

Dressing Muffins

Greetings fellow culinary enthusiasts! There is some discussion about whether you are making dressing or stuffing for Thanksgiving. The way I understand it is that if you don’t “stuff” it in the turkey it is called “dressing”. With that being said, I don’t know where Stove Top Stuffing got its name because it stands alone perfectly. In lean times, I have even had it as a main course. In an effort to make something seasonal with my cooking students, I wrote this fast and easy recipe.

Follow the box directions for Jiffy Cornbread, except use water instead of milk. When it is cool enough to touch, crumble it up with your fingers and place evenly on a baking pan. You can make the crumbles stale fast by baking them on a low heat for a few minutes. Put the stale crumbles in a large bowl with 2 cups of stale bread crumbs (you can make your own…I think this is what the bread heels are made for or you can buy them at the store). Chop ½ cup onion and ½ cup celery and sauté in 2 tablespoons of butter (you can use more if you want to). Prepare 2 cups of chicken broth (I use Better than Bouillon because it is not so salty) and let cool. Add the sauted vegetables to the bowl of stale bread and stir. Add 1 egg when the mixture is cool. Add salt, pepper and sage to your liking and stir. Add the chicken broth to the mixture. Bake in muffin tins for about 15 minutes (mini muffins about 10 minutes).

You can add stuff to this dressing if you like…maybe an oyster in each cup or my favorite…chopped up bits of tamales. The tamale bits add a little something…people will wonder what it is. Best part about making dressing muffins is that leftovers (if there are any) are easy to give out. Just get a muffin…no fork required.

Usually in this space I avoid anything that might be a controversial subject, such as politics or issues that draw a clear dividing line between people, like religion or race. Partially this is because I feel this space to be a area of reflection as well as a positive column that will not scare you to death with the sins of modern society.

This week I saw a video though that beside being troubling on a number of levels also shows just how much we might be losing touch with the people standing beside us. The video is called “10 Hours if Walking in NYC as a Woman.” which besides being an interesting observation of the Human condition, has also become slightly controversial as well.

The video shows a woman walking silently through the streets of New York City and along the way the woman is barraged with greetings, exclamations and questions, some boldly inappropriate, while she walks.

While some of the comments are indeed inappropriate the real offensiveness is in the comments made by thousands of people online, where people are throwing frantic keyboard volleys of hate at the opposite gender over the video.

It is a shame that we cannot understand how hard it might be to be a woman in such an area where cat calls and gawking are more common then manners and politeness. To be sure I am not blaming the women themselves, some of the attitude taken towards possible sexual assault of their female students leaves me flabbergasted at how much gender bias still exists in the world around me.

There are also larger social implications, because if the video is correct, saying phrases such as ‘have a nice evening’ and ‘how are you?” could soon be considered harassment and I think we will lose a great deal of the potential for Human connection in this world.

Although I can agree most of the men in the video seemed to have an ‘agenda’ in the video for saying these phrases, the phrases themselves are not the ones to blame. There are people out there who still believe in reaching out and talking to the people who share the community around them and saying ‘good morning’ or even a simple ‘hello’ is what begins the conversation.

I just feel that slapping a label on these kinds of interactions as well as on men themselves is just as bad as the label some of the men want to slap on the women when they are talking about the causes of various levels of sexual abuse and assault.

The world should be a kinder place and you never want to see someone being harassed or being made to feel uncomfortable, but I cannot see how demonizing the very words people have used to express interest, information and a desire to communicate will not just drive us further apart rather than together in the long run.

Sponsored By The Port O’Connor Lions Club

The Lions Club is inviting Vendors to join us and rent a booth or two!  Get your reservation in soon. The event will be Saturday, March 14, 2014 at the Port O’Connor Community Center Pavilion.

Booth Rental Information: Under the Pavilion:  $25.00 with approx. 12’x12’ space which includes one 6’ table & 2 chairs.  Additional tables – $5.00 each up to a total of 3 in one booth, or you may rent 2 booths if additional space is needed for an additional booth charge.Outside the Pavilion:  Bring your own equipment, awning, tables, etc. – the cost is $20.00 for an approximate 15’x15’ space to give room for tie downs. Booths under Pavilion will be reserved on a first come, first serve basis – as there is a limited number of these booths and repeat vendors.

Plan now.  Start your special crafting or gathering your items for sale.  Additionally, please tell a talented friend about the event so they can start preparing.  Not everything has to be completely hand made.  We are just looking for good quality sale items.

For more info: Joyce Jordan, Sec./Treasurer @ 361-655-7999 or Lynn Reeves, President and Zone 12 Chairman @ 361-746-2524.  Applications available on request.