Trip to Austin for Textbook Conference

We were traveling to Austin and stopped to shop in Hillsboro. The Victorian Santa was meeting eveyone and was nice enough to stop for a picture.

The conference is held once a year for the textbook coordinators of Texas. My husband has been President in years past. He made a presentation and is always stopped by others for information for he is a wealth of knowledge. We stayed at the Omni this year, this the gingerbread village the chef had prepared for the Christmas holidays.
During the conference, Bob from Mesquite was dressed as a terrific Santa and carried his dachshund, Dixie. He has written a book "How the Dachshund saved Christmas". Bob and his wife had a booth, where they were selling the book. He also had a carol he wrote and would sing about my husband and P. D. Thomas.
While shopping in Austin, I found the pink lusterware teapot in the "House" pattern at Whit Hanks mall. The price was nice after negotiating with the dealer. My husband and I also made a find at one of the consignment shops of a set of Haviland with pretty pink flowers.
A beautiful San Marcos church with stained glass windows is decorated for Christmas. San Marcos has a pretty downtown and I found a lovely resale shop called Second to None. I found some terrific cups and saucers at 30% off. It was very hard to pick from the selection.
Gruene Dance Hall in Gruene and pronounced "green". You must notice the motorcycle a Texas vehicle for the The Texas Hill Country. These are someof the pictures from the great historic town.

The Gruene Antique Mall store Christmas windows are of the antique toys of years gone by. The whole town on the river is dressed for Christmas.
Inside the antique mall are the shelves of the old store, they now display assorted antiques.
Even though it is December, this part of Texas in the hill country is warm enough to grow beautiful flowers and cactus. This is the entrance to The Gristmill restaurant, which overlooks the river and the rafting in the warm weather.
The Gruene Historic Inn is decked out for the holidays with garland and lights. Another of the beautiful gingerbread buildings, it is now a hotel for guests visiting Gruene.