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Self-Published

Story ID:1277
Written by:Carol J Garriott
Organization:home/retired
Story type:OurEcho Community
Location:Seadrift Texas USA
Longitude:-96.713W
Latitude:28.415N
Year:2004
Person:C.J. Garriott
Self-Published
Just a note to let everyone know my photo book "A Seadrift Christmas" is finished and self-published on www.lulu.com. Got it done in a little over two weeks, in spite of my abysmally slow dial-up internet, phone line damage over the Veteran's Day weekend, and learning something quite new! 36 pages with 67 photos.

By all accounts, at least an astonishing seven inches of snow fell on my tiny fishing village on San Antonio Bay, on the coast of Texas, beginning Christmas Eve, 2004, and ending Christmas morning. It was a perfect snowfall, wet enough to allow it to cling picturesquely to palm trees, shrimp boats, and coastal entities everywhere.

Most locals had not seen snow at any time. It was, as we would have said in the 50s, the cats meow. What with my on-going daily euphoria from enjoyment of life on the Texas coast, and getting the biggest kick out of things that others seem to barely notice, it was downright amazing that I did not spontaneously combust during this event that had the whole town completely giddy.

Seadrifters materialized en masse from their homes Christmas morning to play in the snow. Gruff shrimpers and oystermen built snowmen with their kids and ladies fell down in the cold wet stuff to make snow angels. Improvised sleds carried youngsters down the little slope in Bayfront Park. Cameras were everywhere.

I don't think I've ever heard so many heartfelt greetings of "Merry Christmas!" as I did that day. The good spirits lasted for days. We were diverted for a few hours from the bad news on the TV. We could forget, for a time, job searches, how to pay the bills, what was going to happen in the new year.

Happy memories sustain us. It's magical to flip back through the pages of our life to those delightful times. Christmas 2004 is among those pages.

This satellite photo from the National Weather Service shows the snow cover in south Texas, December 25, 2004.

When you check out www.lulu.com, look around at other offerings. You might see something else of interest, or decide to do a book of your own!
OurEcho is a FREE SERVICE dedicated to capturing and sharing the individual "bits and pieces" that define our local communities. It might be a bit of interesting local history, an old photograph, a special memory or just a funny story. We are particularly interested in those fascinating and intriguing events/people (both large and small) that we all encounter as part of the human experience. It might be something that happened recently or something passed down to you through your family. Our goal is to provide a forum for local communities to share who they are through their stories and photographs. When you take the time to share these reflection with others, you help us better understand you, the world we live in, and if we are lucky, they help us better understand ourselves.