DALLAS City of Winners

Dallas is a special place. Christmas is a special season. Combine the two in a synergy called Christmas in Dallas and the result can he magic for those with enough perception and imagination to look at their world now and then through the wide and wondering eyes of a child.



The gaze of childhood is innocent, guileless and filled with the excitement of discovery and anticipation. It is also trusting and believing, virtues which the adult world is often required to resurrect from the forgotten corners of life at Christmas-time and dust off with some embarrassment.



Sophistication and simplicity live at opposite ends of the spectrum. One is usually an act. a sham, a veneer masking the truth. The Other is usually sincere, trusting, dependent – in other words, childlike.



If you accept the belief that man is the only one of Cods creatures who lives in two worlds, the physical and the spiritual, then Christmas for you is that joyous season when the two worlds miraculously combined. Human hope at last became faith in a Person, and the world was never again the same.



Of all the signs and symbols of the Christmas season in Dallas, none are more cherished than the venerated Highland Park tree – an ancient pecan at the intersection of Armstrong and Preston. Its heir apparent already growing sturdily at its side, “The Tree” continues faithfully year after year as the helmed object of evening family pilgrimages from all over town.



When you enjoy it again this Christmas with your friends, your children or your grandchildren, take a moment to look beyond the colored lights and the silhouette of limb, twig and branch. Refocus on the distant light of winter stars. Does one appeal’ to be a little brighter than the others? If so, perhaps you have been fortunate enough to retain the faith of childhood.