December 24 th , 2004:
This would be our first Christmas at St. Helena of the True Cross so everyone was planning a party after mid-night mass in the
hall at OLPH. Father James had arranged for us to use the hall. Everyone was cooking their favorite foods for a pot luck dinner there.
There had been a steady rain all morning and in the early afternoon I noticed the rain drops were starting to thicken.
Soon the rain turned to sleet, then to snow. The snow flakes were huge and kept falling steadily. After a few hours there was significant
accumulation of snow on the roads.
People kept calling father to see if he was going to cancel the mass and get together. He just laughed at them. He's a New Yorker and snow
is normal there. By the time the mass started there was over a foot of snow on the ground and it was still coming down steady.
Surprisingly many people still made it to mass. They then headed to the pot luck dinner, but first had snow ball battles in front of the hall.
First time many of the Texans ever saw snow.
