A Winter Texan Holiday

Most Winter Texans won’t be home for Christmas — whether home is Illinois, Wisconsin, Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa or somewhere else entirely.

Instead, they’ll spend the holidays in the Rio Grande Valley in their RV parks or houses, dining rather sumptuously with fellow Winter Texans.

The larger RV parks are prepared to serve or entertain many hundreds of people during the four-day Christmas weekend, Dec. 22-25.

The pattern is pretty much the same throughout the Valley: Major parks supply turkey and gravy dinners with all the trimmings.

Smaller parks may do nothing formally, but individual families in those parks may get together.

Holiday planning for Mission West, a major park on West Business 83, is typical of larger parks. Some 260 people are expected for several events over the holiday.

Activities director Billie Ferguson says there will be a “Christmas with Elvis” dinner on the 23rd, a Christmas play on the 24th and Christmas dinner on the 25th.

In her view, it seems like more Winter Texans than ever are choosing not to travel.

“It starts when your fellow RVers feel like family,” she says. “And besides, they go back and it’s cold.”

“Sometimes it’s their first Christmas away from the kids, so we try to make it just like it’s your family,” she says.

For many Winter Texans, travel isn’t an issue because they don’t leave home up north until after Christmas, heading to the Valley in January. That’s when the second wave of Winter Texans hits.

But for those here now, making merry is the mission.

Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort in Mission will host Christmas dinner, just as it did Thanksgiving dinner for some 160 people.

Nearby Bentsen Grove Resort plans a candlelit Christmas Eve pageant and Christmas dinner for 300 to 400 people, reports RVer Mary Martens.

A veteran of many years’ wintering in South Texas, she and husband Ed have a system for dealing with being away from home at Christmas. The Martenses arrived in Mission in November after observing Christmas in October in St. Paul, Minn., with their two children.

“It works out just fine,” Mary says.

John S. DeMott writes about Winter Texans and covers general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4422.