Christmas fun

     December is such a highlight for us. We love celebrating Jesus' birth and all the fuss that goes along with the season. Except Walmart. Avoid Walmart at all costs during this month! Thanks to Eldon's work schedule we missed the parade and the Christmas programs that I could find. However, a gentleman from church told us about the festivities at the college and which streets to drive down. We were not disappointed!

     The college sets up a huge array of lights in their lawn and it's open to the public each evening to walk through. Food vendors were present and carriage rides were available too. The night we went it was perfect 60 degrees. 

Scrooge and Marley. We watched the original Christmas Carol for the first time ever this year. Such a great story!

Raggedy Ann and Andy. Most of my pictures are not so great and ended up deleted. Too much action!

Some of the scenes had so much detail it was amazing.

Humpty Dumpty

The pioneer family

The college consists of old buildings and they were all beautifully decorated like this.

The old woman and her shoe

There were in awe!

The Nativity scene was huge and ever so beautiful. 

     After walking around the college, we drove through the rich section of town and were amazed even further. We were told that many of these people hire a company (there is 3 in town) that put up and take down lights and I can see why. I didn't take pictures but we it was stunning. Some huge trees were completely covered in lights-all the way to the top! Another cool thing was lights hung so that it looked like a huge wall but in the middle they were completely solid in the shape of a cross.

We baked sugar cookies......

Such a mess but they loved it.

Sugar everywhere!

So yummy!

     The North Texas Museum has a train exhibit that is currently decked out for Christmas. The engineer told us that 20 trains run on tracks but there was lots of other things that moved as well.

So much tiny detail!

Antique fire trucks

My favorite sign :)

Monster trucks!

The White House

It was impossible to see everything.

The Egyptian display

     The Smallest Skyscraper in Wichita Falls is a tiny building with a big story. Back in 1919 when the oil boom was going on office space was a premium. J.D. McMahon offered to build an office building, drew up plans, and collected $200,000 (equivalent to $3 billion today) from investors. He proceeded to build the skyscraper attached to his current office as the plans were written - 480 inches high. Everyone has assumed it was 480 feet but J.D. was long gone before this was discovered. He never was caught but a judge did rule that it was all legal because they had signed the papers.

Isn't it cute?

We climbed all 48 stairs and had a look out the windows. 

Very narrow stairs but so cool!

The building is owned by a very kind lady that uses it as her boutique shop. She charges no admission and tells the story in such a way that even the children were captivated.

The children discovered a fort in the woods built by previous campers and have worked hard to improve it.

Stick fences!

     One question that people frequently ask is what we do for church. It seems to be the general consensus that it would not be feasible to find a new one everywhere we go but it's been one of our biggest blessings. We always pray about it then wait to see where God plops us. Lake Arrowhead Baptist Church is only a few miles from the State Park so we visited there on our first Sunday and loved it. Every place has their own way of doing things but it's such a comfort to to find others who worship and serve the same God we do. We're going to miss our new friends and feel blessed to have spent time with them.

A gift from a friend.

The Medora Musical

     Anytime I hear someone talk about the town of Medora, the Musical is nearly always mentioned in the next sentence. I fully expected that it was another overpriced tourist attraction and didn't even look into going. While looking through a brochure, we realized that 17 and under are free on Sunday and Wednesday evening. After watching a few video clips on youtube, we quickly decided we wanted to go!

     The Medora Musical is a 2 hour show held outdoors with the stunning Badlands as a background. Harold Schafer, along with his wife Sheila, purchased the Burning Hills Amphitheatre and developed the show in an effort to draw families to Medora. They wanted a show that included history and patriotism along with a gospel segment.Harold also said it must be family friendly, have a special song that includes kids, and have horses, flags, and fireworks on-stage. 

Around the stage is set up like an old town. We took a 7 story escalator down to get to our seats!

You can't really see them, but they had elk feeding on top of the hill as we were being seated.

The Coal Diggers Band played some amazing music!

The Burning Hills Singers featured 12 singers/dancers that changed outfits multiple times throughout the show. I noticed all the guys had 2 gun holsters and found it amusing they stuck their microphones in them when they weren't singing!

All the kids came down on the stage while they sang a version of "Everything is Awesome". They were all given a light as well.

     Since it was a musical, they'd talk a little then break into a song. We were happy to know most of the songs but if you can't stand Country Music, you may not enjoy the show. Here we are learning about the Marquis de More and his wife Medora (yup, he named the town after her). He had a vision to build a city around his meat-packing enterprise. Unfortunately, his plans failed but he is still given credit for founding Medora. His wife was known for being an expert sharpshooter and rider (side-saddle, of course)

🎵 I've got the one I love beside me........🎵

     A big part of the show was about Theodore Roosevelt and his time in the Dakota's. He came to hunt but fell in love with the Badlands and purchased 2 ranches.

He was quite the city slicker when he first stepped off the train!

Such a lovely view!

As a tribute to Roosevelt, they did a reenactment of  the Battle of San Juan Hill.

It was hard to see all the action at once!

Victory at last!

🎵 I should have been a cowboy......🎵 Ethan was so happy they sang this song - he loves it!

"Cowboy" Chet was the host, along with "Wild" Bill. They had the crowd roaring with laughter more then once as they bantered back and forth.

The show went on through history and gave us lots of fascinating tidbits. These were the top 6 cowboys at one point.

On a huge screen to the side, they showed a picture of the actual people they were talking about. 

Then they had a clogging song!

     They always have a featured attraction that changes every few weeks. When we were there, it was a group of skaters called Breaksk8. They were ok but honestly, we didn't enjoy it very much. The music style completely changed and we weren't ready for that :).

They did some impressive jumping!

More singing......

This sign on the hill was really cool. As the ending neared and they were talking about pioneers, they had the spotlight on riders coming down the hill. 

🎵God bless America......🎵

A closing speech by Roosevelt

“No matter your dream, remember, it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...” 
― Theodore Roosevelt

Fireworks at the end!

And horses and flags!

     The evening we attended, there was a storm coming in so they cut the show 20 minutes short. We were so sad that the Medora Gospel Choir didn't come on since we've seen video clips and they sound really good. But now we have something to look forward to next time! 

     We've also decided that live plays/dramas are something we all enjoy and are worth spending our time and money on instead of some other things. Eldon and I also wonder who and what will be featured in a show like this in 100 years?! The "brave" things people are given credit for doing today pale in comparison to a century ago.