The welcome return of the Gonzales Garden Club Christmas gathering was much anticipated. President Jamie Trisler explained, “The Gonzales Garden Club is finally back to ‘normal’ following COVID restrictions in 2020-2021. We had Zoom meetings in the fall of 2020 through the spring of 2021 followed by meetings without a lunch meal September 2021 through November 2021.”
The club’s annual Christmas celebration was held on December 8 at the First Baptist Church reception hall. The ladies arrived with pot luck dishes, food pantry donations and gifts to swap. Flurries of cheerful conversation about family well being and holiday plans eventually relented to the meeting’s call to order.
An abbreviated business session was held. Jamie announced project updates, then she gave the blessing for the meal. Hostesses Jamie Trisler, Kaye Couvillion, Janis D’Benedetto, Barbara McCormick, Mary Jo Pohlig and Mabel Savoy had decorated the dinner tables with red tablecloths, green placemats, holly cutouts and candles in poinsettia-painted glass cylinders. The buffet line of dishes included crackers and dip, deviled eggs, lasagna, baked ham, smoked turkey, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, potato salad, pea salad, and broccoli salad with garlic bread and yeast rolls followed by pecan pie, lemon squares and bread pudding. The culminating activity of the get-together was the customary garden gift swap metered by Myra Mire’s reading of “Twas the night Before Christmas”. The gift item that was most enthusiastically received was a door mat from Dale Bowman that reads, “PLEASE RING BELL … and pull weeds until some answers.”
December’s horticulture hint is to plant paper whites and amaryllis bulbs to give as gifts to friends at Christmastime. The January meeting will feature a speaker whose topic will be color trends for home gardens. Jamie closes by saying, “I am so looking forward to 2022 when we hopefully will continue our normal meeting format and lunch. It was challenging at times dealing with COVID restrictions, but we adapted. I am thankful for the willingness of the club members to work within the restrictions. On behalf of the Gonzales Garden Club, I wish the readers of this article Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
