A Texas Trip and Visiting New Friends

Thursday December 12, 2025

I flew to Dallas today where my sister Sandy picked me up and took me back with her to Burkburnett. I've come to help her out while she is battling her breast cancer and receiving Chemotherapy treatments. I helped her do some Christmas Decorating and washing some heavy blankets and things on Saturday. On Sunday after church, we went to their farm to put out feed for the deer, check the bees and fix covers on the water tanks.

It is a lovely place for a Texas Apiary and farm.

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In the evening Sandy took me to the Campus of Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls to see the Burns Fantasy of Lights.

The Burns Family actually started this light display in the 1950s at their home, but it grew very popular with the locals, and was also adding new displays all the time. When Mrs. Burns died, the display was moved to MSU in 1974.

Favorite characters from books, fairy tales and movies are brought to life in the many displays from the 1950s on. Here are a few.. Ebenezer Scrooge and A Christmas Carol.

Peter Pan..

Sandy and I enjoying the pointsettias.

The Old Woman in the Shoe!

You have to be about 60 years old to remember the TV show "Flipper".

Santa's Sack full of toys, candy and SANDY!!

I loved the homage to the movie White Christmas!

After walking through the Fantasy of Lights, she took me the streets with the best light displays in town.

There is one whole street where all the houses decorate the trunks of their trees with red and white candy stripes. It was such a lovely time!

This tree curtain display in the yard of a big house is there every year and is a popular spot for marriage proposals.

And finally, we drove a little ways out of town to visit the house that was voted the 2024 Winner of the National Christmas Lights contest. They had a Candy Land game theme.

Monday morning was Sandy's next to the last Chemotherapy treatment. It was a privilege to be able to help her. She keeps her hands and feet on ice during the entire 4-5 hour process.

How I thank God for this baby sister of mine!

Thursday December 19, 2024

This next photo isn't anything important, I'm just showing off my Christmas  that sweater and turtleneck that I am able wear for the 1st time in years. Charlotte took me to the airport today and after a long delay (3 hours) I made it back to Salt Lake City where Darryl was waiting to pick me up.

We spent the night in SLC and Friday morning we had breakfast with Garth and Leann Wilson, whom we met in Cartagena last April.

It was good to see them again and to see Leann looking so healthy after her illness that made them cut their cruise short and landed her in the hospital in Cartagena. We met them when the missionaries asked us to visit them in the hospital and have kept in touch ever since.

I was so grateful we took the time to meet with them, because Saturday morning Garth fell into a coma and was hospitalized for a week. He is very ill with liver failure and now on a wait list for a liver transplant. God Bless them both!