By Georgia Osten
This is how I trained my girls andThe Beat Goes On. We did our yearly Nutcracker Market Thing. This time, nine of us! My two girls, Leigh & Kelly, one Granddaughter, Addyson, our Bestest Friend, Mel & her Mom, Barbara, our San Antonio family, Linda, Wendy & Aubrey, and me. How many years now? It’s only been the last 3 or 4 years we’ve been tailgating. We pioneered the idea, yes, we did! It’s NRG, that’s what you do at NRG. We bring all sorts of things to get us through the day. We get there early enough to have breakfast, Pigs-in-a-Blanket, blueberry muffins, bagels and cream cheese, and pineapple & grapes & strawberries with Grandma’s fruit dip (marshmallow cream/strawberry cream cheese). Oh, and of course, Wendy’s Shortbread cookies, her specialty! And, No, she won’t share the recipe. That’s okay, it looks too difficult for me. I’ll stick to my Jam Cheese Strippers, my Christmas specialty (tedious enough).

It was colder this year than most, that cold front whipped in early Saturday morning. Thank goodness Leigh packed plenty of sweatshirts and several brought their blankies. We all sat in the sun to soak up as much warmth as possible. To make up for lack of warmth, those Mimosa’s hit the spot! Anyway, we think the tailgating thing has “caught on.”

Okay, it’s 9:30, let’s head inside, potty break, and wait for them to open the gates! Leigh put us on group text which came in handy when we were trying to figure out where everybody was. There were more people than I’ve ever seen. More men (why)? More babies (why)? It was a whole different crowd than we’re used to seeing, but men, babies and everyone appeared to be having a great time.

We shopped till we were hungry again, so we rounded up the gang and out we went to the truck, pulled out the chairs, no need for blankets by then, it had warmed up to a cozy 55 degrees, no wind. Out came the ham & cheese sliders, Mel’s chicken salad & croissants, “Tackle Box Treats,” chips & more fruit and of course Champagne (we had to finish off the bottle).

Many trips were made out to the truck to unload our purchases. By 3:00pm, we were done, cooked! We loaded up our stuff & headed off in a few different directions. San Antonio bound for some, then beach bound so PawPaw could see “his” girls.

He had dinner for us and we had almost enough time to sit around and reminisce with our girls.

Next morning, off to League City to meet up with our Friendswood family, Camber, Matthew, Pierce & The Littles, Riggs & Fisher. We met at Red Oak for breakfast, 11 of us, that’s a Big Crowd for Red Oak. What a delight to have “almost” all of us together.

We reluctantly said goodbye to each other Until Next Time. Leigh & Paul took the Florida Girls back to the airport for their flight home to Tampa.

So folks, I guess this is all for my ventures of last weekend. As my oldest daughter says, “we always read Mom’s Crab Trap, to see what she did the previous weekend.”

“Crab Trap,” “Fake News,” I don’t care what you call it, I just hope you read it and get an idea of what a retired Old Lady does to fill up her time on this Peninsula we call “Paradise.” That’s why I call it “The Sand Bucket,” an Old Lady’s Beach Journal.

[GO: Nov-15-2022]