Christmas Eve in Rockport-Fulton

Rockport's Christmas tree

Happy Christmas Eve! I didn't realize how many days had passed since I last blogged, until Curt's sister Patty emailed and asked me if I was finished writing the blog. No, indeed! I guess I have some catching up to do! But tonight I'll start with just a little Christmas cheer around our corner of the South Coast, and then I'll backtrack and catch up a little in the next few days.

First order of business this morning, since the temperature was mild and the wind was relatively quiet, was to take a bike ride. We could see that within the hour the wind was going to kick up from 12 to 22 mph, and the temp was going to start dropping 2-3 degrees an hour, so we hopped on our bicycles and started to tour around the harbor and the little town of Fulton.

Here's one of the boats at harbor, decorated with lots of inflatable characters. Santa appears to be taking a nap up there in the rigging.

We stopped in a few places we hadn't been before. Checked out a couple of fresh seafood places, but decided to stick with our favorite Flowers Shrimp Shop, even though it's about 5 miles away. We passed the Bait Shop here at Fulton Harbor, and they're all decorated for the holidays as well:

We wanted to check out the expansion of Moondog's, a local bar/eatery. We ate lunch there a few years ago when we were vacationing here. At that time it wasn't much more than a little shack on the harbor. We recall that the food wasn't much to brag about, and the atmosphere was pretty dingy. But they've done a lot to it, so we wanted to see the changes. The first thing that caught my eye was the sign. It made me laugh out loud, so I had to stop for a picture:

It wasn't until we went inside and then out on the new upper deck in the back that we could see the original small blue building. All the new structures have been built around it and enclosed it. No wonder it looks so different than it did a few years ago!

The view from the back deck is wonderful. Now THAT is a place I could enjoy eating!

They've even done a little landscaping out front, which isn't something you find often in Fulton:

The menu looked good, but since it wasn't lunchtime yet, we pedaled on. We'll try the food someday soon and give a report then.

We turned away from the beach and rode through some residential streets. At one point we passed two young men fishing in a channel cut between some condominiums. Just as we passed by, one of them pulled up a beautiful 20" speckled trout. Curt gave him the thumbs up sign, and the young man called out, "Do you want it? I'm just going to throw it back!" Quick U-turn! We were delighted to take the fish off his hands. Curt hooked his thumb through a gill and we headed home. Curt had to ride his bike with one hand, holding the fish that was whipping and bucking all the way home. 

Ok, NOW it was time for lunch!

Later, as we got in the car to run some errands, we drove by the spot, just in case the guys were still fishing and wanted to give away more fish. They were gone, but what we saw made us laugh. Right in the spot where they had been fishing was this sign:

No wonder that fish tasted so good!

We headed to the library in Rockport to get our library cards:

We had gone by there a couple weeks ago to do that, but we couldn't find the library. Turns out it was under a huge black plastic tent, being fumigated for an infestation of bedbugs, of all things! I'm happy to report that so far, we haven't experienced any itching from our library visit. 

Curt found himself a new girlfriend there. He has a way of making fast friends with quick-witted older women, and he and Joyce bantered back and fort and swapped friendly insults with each other the whole time we were in the library. Already he's looking forward to returning the books we checked out!

Then down to the harbor at Rockport to see a section of the dock decked out for the season:

We watched a woman feeding the seagulls. It can be so quiet without a gull in sight, and the instant someone opens up a bag of bread and begins tossing pieces up into the air, the gulls pour in out of nowhere, clamoring for a piece. It's a pretty impressive sight!

Back at home I found a single gull taking a bath in the swimming pool that's right outside our front door:

Apparently he can't read the sign any better than our generous fishermen friends could!

This evening we attended a beautiful candlelight Christmas Eve service with Communion at our little Methodist Church in Rockport. The church was so lovely, with all the banners in ivory and gold:

As Pastor Laura preached about the love of Christ coming in the form of an infant, she was able to illustrate some of her sermon while holding a brand new 4-day old baby boy from one of the families in the congregation:

I sang in the choir:

Tonight the church looked totally different than it did this past Sunday morning, when we sang the Christmas cantata, with the colors and banners of Advent as the backdrop:

Now we're tucked snugly at home, enjoying our own little Christmas tree, reflecting on the glorious and unfathomable love that God expressed that first Christmas. We pray that you know the peace and joy brought by the Christ Child so many years ago.

Tonight may you sleep in heavenly peace.