Welcome Fans, Friends, and Visitors,

Hi.  December is a joyous month.  Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Yule help to provide joy and hope for a better future for most everyone.  Regardless of your religion or lack of, race, ethnicity, gender preference, and gender, it is a time when we often come together to share happiness.

Weather in Houston

December is Houston’s second coldest month.  Be prepared to wear a sweater, coat, or both.  The monthly average high temperature is 65 degrees Fahrenheit/18 degrees Centigrade.  The monthly average low temperature is 47 degrees Fahrenheit/6 degrees Centigrade, and the mean is 56 degrees Fahrenheit/13 degrees Centigrade.  The average rainfall is 3.78 inches/9.6 centimeters.  It is the ninth wettest month of the year.

Tours Below

Mention that you read about any of the tours below {other than the monthly specials) from the blog and you will receive a 10% discount in the month of December. What a deal!

National Food Day Tours
Did you know that:

• December 2nd is National Fritters Day?
• December 4th is National Cookie Day?
• December 9th is National Pastry Day?
• December 10th is National Lager Day?
• December 11 is National Bagel Day?
• December 13th is National Hot Cocoa Day?
• December 15th is International Tea Day and National Cupcake Day?
• December 21st is National Hamburger Day?
• December 22nd is National Date Nut Bread Day?
• December 24th is National Eggnog Day?
• December 25th is National Pumpkin Pie Day?
• December 27th is National Fruitcake Day?
• December 31st is National Champagne Day?

So much self-indulgent food and drink! So few stomachs! Ah, to be a cow. LOL

We will create a customized 3-hour themed tour for your enjoyment anytime in this month for the above gastronomical sensations. We can combine two or more of the above holidays. Who does not like comfort food?

Holiday Lights Tours
December sees an uptick in our tour business because of the holidays.  We offer 9 different Holiday Lights Tours.  Four tours are 3 hours, three tours are 4-hours, one tour is 5-hours, and one tour is 7-hours.  The 5-hour tour goes to Texas City and Galveston.  The 7-hour tour goes to Santa’s Wonderland in College Station.  This area has over 1 million lights.

Tour A, for 3 hours, is far and away the most popular of the Holiday Lights Tour.  It includes the Galleria, River Oaks, Tanglewood, Uptown Park, River Oaks District, Highland Village, and Greenway Plaza.  Our other three hour tours can include the various Heights, ethnic minority areas, the elite Green Tea subdivision in Pearland, Candlelight Plaza, Prestonwood Forest, and more communities.  The 3-hour tours are normally from 6:30 to 9:30 PM, although we can be flexible.  Remember that sunset takes place at about 5:30 PM so you want to start sometime thereafter.  They normally have one stop at a Starbucks for bathrooms and holiday drinks.  Visit our website to see more of the detailed descriptions.

People begin scheduling the Holiday Lights Tours in August. I already have conducted our first Holiday Lights tour of the year this past week in November. I already have over one-half dozen more Holiday Lights tours scheduled with still other inquiries. If you would like to go on a Holiday Lights tour, contact us now to reserve your tour.

Mexican Restaurant Tours
December is a good month to also go on a comfort food tour.  We offer several food and drink tours including Mexican Restaurant Tours.  You can choose the length and how many restaurants that you want to visit and how much you want to eat.  We take you to a historic Mexican restaurants that are generally considered among the best in Houston.  All of the restaurants were found in the 1900s.  Some specialize in entrees, some in appetizers, some in margaritas.  We recommend that you select one thing, for example nachos or quesadillas, that you can compare and contrast at each restaurant and still have more space in your stomach to try some more at the next restaurant.  Many of the Mexican restaurants are beautifully decorated for the holidays.  Visit our website to see what restaurants we include on such a tour and customize it.

Galveston Tours
Galveston has a certain mystique, similar to New Orleans, but on a 1/10 size.  Like New Orleans, it was a port city, the state’s wealthiest city and full of immigrants and sailors coming into it.  It was the largest city in Texas in 1870 and 1880.  Prostitution and gambling thrived during the years that Galveston was an open city.  Hurricanes have repeated beaten it down only for the city to bounce back.  The greatest architect in Texas history designed some of the most impressive buildings in the state from 1872 to 1900.  Galveston is currently experiencing its first growth in six decades.  Hurricane Ike in 2008 resulted in people reinvesting in Galveston.  We offer Galveston tours from 5 to 12 hours that can include a boat ride to see dolphins and a sunken ship in Galveston Bay, museums, mansion homes to tour, historical homes from the 1830s and 1840s to stop and photograph, movies to watch titled “The Great Storm” and or “The Pirate Island of Jean Lafitte,” seeing tree sculptures, great food and drink to consume, and exploring different neighborhoods.  December is a particularly good time to visit because of the festival Dickens on the Strand.  It started in 1974 and is held on the first weekend in December.  A tradition is a descendant of the great British author Charles Dickens leads the parade and people dress in costumes from the era of Dickens’s best-selling book The Christmas Carol.  You will have a bloody good time.

Monthly Special – Discounted by 17 to 43% Based on the Number of People
The monthly special for December is a Northern Hermann Park Walking Tour.  This 2.5-hour tour focuses on going through Houston’s most famous and popular park, Hermann Park.  It was named after Houston’s greatest benefactor, George Hermann. Some of the highlights are:

• Strolling through the Japanese Gardens
• Walking by the Houston Zoo
• Watching the activities at McGovern Lake
• Seeing our smaller version of the Washington Monument
• Visiting Miller Outdoor Theatre (MOT)
• Viewing the children’s train
• Visiting the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS), the fourth most museum visited in the United States
• Seeing the most famous statue in Houston, that of General Sam Houston
• Seeing the 18-hole golf course
• Walking through the John P. McGovern Centennial Gardens and Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion,
  Seeing the 3 Mecom Fountains
• Seeing nine busts of Latin American leaders: Benito Juarez, Jose de San Martin, Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Bernardo O’Higgins, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Vicente Rocafuerte, Field Marshal Ramon Castilla, and Dr. Jose Rizal
• Seeing 3 statues of men of peace: Mahatma Gandhi, Confucius, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Seeing miscellaneous other statues and structures of Cancer, There is Hope, Grecian Dancer, Oliver Twist, Atropos Key, a Japanese Stone Lantern, and Chinese pagoda, and
• Seeing the holiday decorations in the park.

This tour begins outside the main entrance of the Houston Zoo on the north side. If you have a GPS, input 1680 Zoo Circle Drive, Houston, Texas 77030. The street may also be identified as Golf Course Drive and Hermann Park Drive. Parking Lot G is the closest lot. Parking is free, but limited to 3-hours. The parking garage by the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) costs money, but one can park there for several hours.

Monthly Special Prices

• 1 person – $40.00.  This is a 43% discount off of the regular price of $70.00

$40.00 + $3.30 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $43.30 Total.

• 2 people – $30.00 each.  This is a 25% discount off of the regular price of $40.00 per person.

$30.00 + $2.48 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $32.48 per person x 2 people = $64.96 Total.

• 3 or 4 people – $25.00 each.  This is a 17% discount off the regular price of $30.00 per person.

$25.00 + $2.07 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $27.07 per person.
$27.07 per person x 3 people = $81.21 Total.
$27.07 per person x 4 people = $108.28 Total.

• 5 to 9 people – $20.00 each.  This is a 20% discount off the regular price of $25.00 per person.

$20.00 + $1.65 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $21.65 per person.  $21.65 x 5 people = $108.25.
$20.00 + $1.65 (Sales tax of 8.25%) + $3.00 (15% gratuity for parties of 6 or more people) = $24.65 per person x 6, 7, 8, or 9 people.

• 10 to 19 people – $15.00 each.  This is a 25% discount off the regular price of $20.00 per person.
  $15.00 + $1.24 (Sales tax of 8.25%) + $2.25 per person (15% gratuity for parties of 6 or more people) = $18.49 per person x the number of people.

Some Positive Forms of Recognition

• Houston Historical Tours was once again nominated for the 2019 Travel & Tourism Awards.
• Houston Historical Tours was featured in the online magazine Mommy Poppins for the “Best Public Holiday Light Displays in Houston.” See the article at https://mommypoppins.com/houston-kids/christmashanukkah/best-public-holiday-light-displays-in-houston. Here’s the link to the part of the article where we were highlighted.

Invite Your Friends

If you know anyone who would be interested in receiving our blogs, please let us know at houstonhistory@aol.com. Provide a clear name and email address for the person or group and we will sign them up. Thanks.

Enjoy the season.

See you on a tour.

Sincerely,

Keith Rosen
Houston Historical Tours
P. O. Box 262404
Houston, Texas 77207-2404
(713) 392-0867
(713) 643-4086 Fax
houstonhistory@aol.com
www.houstonhistoricaltours.com

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