It’s no secret that I love the Dallas Arboretum. Add half a million Christmas lights and twelve yuletide gazebos and you’ll be bursting with holiday cheer by the time you leave! Twelve twenty-five foot gazebos are installed annually across the Dallas Arboretum’s sixty-six acres for its annual 12 Days of Christmas exhibit. It takes over 20,000 hours of labor to build them.

For the most part, the gazebos get larger and larger as you progress through the garden to accommodate the number of gifts inside. Cheerful holiday music plays (lots of Rat Pack – my favorite!) at each gazebo throughout the .75 mile walk.

The Dallas Arboretum commissioned The Dallas Opera and Dallas Stage Scenery for the exhibit. Almost all of the craftsmanship was done by local Texas artists and vendors. Fifty-five mannequins all with a hand-painted face and their own unique personality were created for the exhibit.

One of my favorite gazebos is the Partridge in a Pear Tree, which apparently I was so enchanted by I completely forgot to take a picture of! The tree is gorgeous and I now want to hang glass pears all over my own tree.

Six Geese-A-Laying is particularly Christmas-y for a Texan like me who has nary a white Christmas had. The six geese are set in a snowy winter forest complete with snowflakes and red cardinals.

My uncle’s favorite was Eight Maids-A-Milking, which features four cows and a really cute kitten stealing cream.

Nine Ladies Dancing is another favorite of mine and probably my niece’s favorite. She, my aunt and I had fun acting as fashion police, picking out our favorite ballroom looks of the night. The nine ladies are each wearing a different Victorian ballgown.

There’s also an enormous Christmas tree presented by Reliant Energy towards the end of the exhibit that begs for family photos.

Dallas Arboretum typically closes in the evening but one special bonus of the 12 Days of Christmas Exhibit is that you can visit the Arboretum at night to marvel at the lights! Dallas Arboretum is open at night Wednesday – Sunday, from now through December 30, 2017 from 6-9 pm, plus a few special dates: November 20 & 21, December 18, 19 & 26. This excludes Nov. 23, Dec. 24-25, Dec. 31. This would be a great date night and is niece-approved for the kids!

See the spectacle for yourself through January 7, 2018. Purchase tickets here. Have a favorite Christmas tradition? Comment and tell me!

Happy holidays from my family to yours,

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