Weekend Event Planner

These are the 9 best things to do in Dallas this Christmas weekend

Since it's Christmas weekend, most of the big events will be ones we've already highlighted that are designed to get you in the holiday spirit. We'll give a recap of the best ones to see again or for the first time, as well as a smattering of other new events on the docket.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, December 24

Holiday at the Arboretum
It's one thing to hear "The 12 Days of Christmas" sung throughout the holidays, but it's quite another to see each of the verses brought to life at the 12 Days of Christmas at the Dallas Arboretum. Back for its second year, everything from a partridge in a pear tree to 12 drummers drumming gets its own gazebo, and many feature animated characters, lights, and snow. This year, the Arboretum has added 500,000 lights throughout the garden and a 30-foot-tall tree at the center of property. The exhibit is up through January 3.

The Trains at NorthPark
There are few Dallas holiday traditions as enduring as The Trains at NorthPark, which is now in its 28th year and 17th at NorthPark Center. Sixteen-hundred feet of track takes trains through landmarks across America, including the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Times Square in New York City, and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The trains run on time through January 3.

Dallas Theater Center presents A Christmas Carol
DTC has now put on Charles Dickens' classic story for over 30 years. This year the company is mixing things up by having Hassan El-Amin play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge and Brierley Resident Acting Company member Christie Vela be the play's first female director. The production will run at Wyly Theatre through December 26.

Angelika Film Center presents It's a Wonderful Life
If you missed last week's screening of It's a Wonderful Life at the Majestic Theatre, you can make up for it with a Christmas Eve screening at either the Dallas or Plano locations of Angelika Film Center. A film full of darker-than-you-remember moments and plenty of joy, it's the perfect lead-in to Christmas Day.

Grand Prairie Parks, Arts & Recreation Department presents Prairie Lights
Everybody loves to look at Christmas lights, and one of the better displays around is this annual event at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie. Featuring 4 million lights set along two miles of path, it has hundreds of all-new displays in shapes of all kinds lining and arching over the roads. Halfway through the drive, visitors can get out of their cars for a stop at Holiday Village, where they'll find food, gifts, Santa Claus, an all-new indoor laser show, and the Holiday Magic Lighted Walk-Through Forest. The second half of the drive ends with an animated light tunnel. You can experience the fun through January 3.

Friday, December 25

There are a few events available on Christmas Day, but if there's ever a day to stay home, this is it. Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 26

Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl: Washington vs. Southern Miss
Bowl season comes to Dallas in the form of the annual Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. Two schools that have never played football against each other, the University of Washington Huskies and the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, will each make their first-ever appearance at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.

Dallas Children’s Theater presents Lone Star Circus' Zingari!
For its brand new 2015 production, Dallas’s very own Lone Star Circus presents Zingari, a loving tribute to the old gypsy roots of many circus families, replete with a cornucopia of talented acrobats, aerialists, equilibrists, jugglers, clowns and four-legged stars from all over the world. The production will play at Dallas Children's Theater through January 3.

Rick Ross in concert with Jaio
Dallas-area fans are some of the first to see Rick Ross live in concert after the December 4 release of his latest album, Black Market. With songs like "The Boss," "Aston Martin Music," "You the Boss," and the new "Sorry," Ross' music is perfect antidote to the sugary sweet holiday tunes. He'll play at the Bomb Factory with support from opening act Jaio.

Sunday, December 27

Robert Earl Keen's Merry Christmas from the Fam-O-Lee
It may technically be after Christmas, but there's still a lot to enjoy with this concert. Robert Earl Keen brings his annual holiday party back to Dallas for one night only at the House of Blues, with help from special guests Doyle & Debbie. R.E.K.'s Merry Christmas from the Fam-O-Lee is a holiday hootenanny like no other.

Rick Ross will play at the Bomb Factory on December 26.

Rick Ross/Facebook

Rick Ross will play at the Bomb Factory on December 26.

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Movie Review

Reminders of Him blends trauma and romance in slight but effective story

Photo by Michelle Faye / Universal Pictures

Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.

Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s, with the new film Reminders of Him marking the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far - most notably It Ends With Us - are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.

Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).

Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.

Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.

The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.

It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.

Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.

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Reminders of Him opens in theaters on March 13.

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