Oops! Christmas time and family celebrations have now come and gone. I hope that you practiced social distancing and followed the suggestions of our CDC and government mandates and stayed home. Yes, it was difficult not to visit with family and loved ones. But if we are to conquer our battle in this pandemic, we must do all possible to fight it.

 

Just a few more days and it will be time for another celebration...2021 is just around the corner and we will be saying goodbye to 2020 and welcoming a New Year. All of us will no doubt be glad to welcome in a New Year with hopes that by the end of this coming year, this pandemic will be behind us.

Staying at home has certainly given me time to plan the tours for the coming year. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get hotels to furnish group quotes especially now when their capacity is reduced and monitored. Even so, I still am missing a few contracts and a few bus quotes.

When you look at all the different tours that are offered, I do hope that you find several that you would like to be a part of.

One of the local tours that I added last year was the most difficult one to sell and yet that particular tour received not one negative report. As I tried to determine why the tour did not sell well, I received the same answer more than once, ‘Women don't like the word Battlefields.’ So, we have renamed it - OUR BORDER LAND - The Lower Rio Grande Valley. You will see and hear about the wall and visit sites that played a most impressive part in the forming of what we now call Our Valley Home. Participants will even drive by the newest historical development - the Space Center - on the way to view Boca Chica Beach. You will enjoy a fun day and partake of the best included lunch ever. As I noted before, this tour received not one negative comment.

Your evaluations are especially important to me. I read every one and when, and if at all possible, I follow your suggestions as I attempt to constantly improve the tours. Several people requested that I offer Fredericksburg as it had not been offered for several years. Fredericksburg is a remarkably interesting town in the Texas Hill Country. For a small Texas town, it boasts the only Museum dedicated to the Pacific War. The town was settled by German immigrants, one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States. Bier Gartens and German food are still extremely popular in this area. Close by is the Texas White House, the former home of Lyndon Johnson. The tour is filled with visits to these well-known places.

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And now how did you do on your Resolution for the New Year? Are you going to make a positive resolution rather than a negative one? Are you going to add something to your life that will enrich your life as well as the life of someone else?

I promised I would help you out and here it is. How about choosing one day out of the week when you will make it a point to call someone that needs a little cheering up, a little caring. Instead of feeling sorry yourself and suffering with a "pity party", why not think of someone who is carrying an extra burden - perhaps the loss of a loved one, or an illness or maybe just someone who lives alone and would like to hear a friendly voice. I am adding that to my last year's resolution which was to remember to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and a happy hello to all those I met.

Let us go a step further and enrich some one's life. Let us be a positive influence in this world.

Happy New Year!