Holiday home run

DFW family's Christmas light spectacle celebrates Rangers' World Series win

The Wisdom Way Lights pay tribute to the Texas Rangers' World Series win.

Facebook/Wisdom Way Lights

A Haltom City family didn't just light up with joy when their beloved Texas Rangers won the World Series — they lit up their whole house for the holidays. The Gonzalez family's annual Christmas light spectacle, known as "Wisdom Way Lights," this year pays tribute to the Rangers' 2023 World Series victory.

Highlights of the 10,000+ light interactive display include clips of the final out of the game projected on an LED screen on the garage; skeletons donning jerseys of famous Rangers players; a dancing Rangers captain; and of course, the words "Texas Rangers" and "World Series" illuminated in red, white, and blue.

Jesse and Angela Gonzalez and their kids put the display up quietly in mid-November, but the response has been anything but quiet. Videos posted to their TikTok and Instagram accounts quickly spread across social media and attracted the attention of a few local TV news crews.

Jesse Gonzalez says they're averaging about 100 cars of spectators each night. Unfortunately, none of their visitors has included anyone from the Texas Rangers organization, as far as he knows.

"That would be amazing," he says.

Rangers fans have only a few more days to get in the game, as December 1 will be the last night for the Wisdom Way World Series display.

Then the family will switch to a "Super Mario Bros." themed show, based in the most recent movie, along with two more traditional Christmas lights shows. All three will run concurrently until January 1, they say.

Visitors can view the shows from from their cars and listen to the audio on radio channel 89.7 FM.

The Gonzalezes have put up a larger-than-life, interactive lights displays since 2012, annually making CultureMap's list of The Best Christmas Lights in Dallas-Fort Worth Best Christmas Lights in Dallas-Fort Worth.

This is not the first time the Wisdom Way Lights (named for the street the family lives on) has brought them a bit of fame and a lot of traffic on their street. In 2020, their Selena-themed display attracted crowds from near and far.

They chose a Selena theme that year because Angela was a big fan of the Tejano superstar, they said then. Choosing the Texas Rangers as this year's theme was a win for the whole family.

Angela and Jesse's first date was to a Rangers Game, and they got engaged at a Rangers game a year later.

"We normally do Christmas lights each year kind of based on the trends," Jesse recently told NBC 5.

"But this was not just a regular trend, this was extraordinary for us because we've been waiting for this for a decade," Angela added, referring to the Rangers' World Series title.

The Wisdom Way Lights are at 4521 Wisdom Way, Haltom City, 76117. The lights are on nightly from 6-11:30 pm, until January 1, 2024. (Rangers display ends December 1.) They're free to visit. Follow Wisdom Way Lights on Facebook for updates.

families lights sports world series holidays

Dinosaur Display

Rare dinosaur exhibition makes American debut at Perot Museum in Dallas

Photo courtesy of Naturalis Biodiversity Center

The March of the Triceratops exhibition will go display at the Perot Museum in Dallas in July 2027.

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science will become the first North American venue to host the international tour of The March of the Triceratops when it comes to Dallas in July 2027.

The immersive exhibition features five Triceratops fossil skeletons from the only known herd ever discovered, offering rare insight into how the enormous plant-eating dinosaurs may have lived 66-68 million years ago, according to a release from the Perot Museum.

The March of the Triceratops presents more than 1,200 bones and fossil fragments from five Triceratops horridus discovered together in a single rock layer near Newcastle, Wyoming from a late Cretaceous-aged rock unit called the Lance Formation.

The prehistoric herd and its Late Cretaceous environment are brought to life through soundscapes, animations, augmented reality, and life-size models.

Visitors will be able to see a true-to-size female Triceratops model and animatronic calf, explore interactive stations and touchscreens, and take part in hands-on fossil discovery experiences.

“The March of the Triceratops offers our community the rare opportunity to experience a truly landmark exhibition of some of the most complete Triceratops skeletons ever found,” said Dr. Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott Chief Executive Officer, Perot Museum, in a statement.

“Dinosaurs have the power to capture our imagination like nothing else, and seeing these remarkable specimens up close is the type of 'wow' moment that inspires awe. Complementing the outstanding scientific work and discoveries of our own paleontology team, we’re proud to make Dallas a dinosaur destination.”

The exhibition was developed by Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands and presented and toured in partnership with MUSEUMsPARTNER.

The fossils of the five Triceratops were discovered in 2013 and collected over six field seasons between 2015 and 2019 by a team of researchers, paleontologists, preparators, students, and volunteers from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

The touring exhibition combines years of fieldwork, advanced imaging, and precision-built structural design to recreate the prehistoric world.

It comes to Dallas following presentations at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and the Auckland Museum, New Zealand.

The exact run dates of the exhibition at the Perot Museum have not yet been announced.

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