{"id":53687,"date":"2023-12-23T09:26:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T17:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=53687"},"modified":"2023-12-23T09:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T17:26:04","slug":"the-omg-tree-a-tree-mendous-christmas-lights-display-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2023\/12\/23\/the-omg-tree-a-tree-mendous-christmas-lights-display-in-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cOMG Tree\u201d \u2013 A Tree-Mendous Christmas Lights Display in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a ranch in Bartonville, TX a 150-year-old pecan tree is the tableau for an annual spectacular light display every Christmas.\u00a0 The locals call it the \u201cOMG Tree\u201d<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 and with good reason!<\/p>\n

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It began as a suggestion back in 2005 from Bill Rathburn, owner of the Christmas Light Company in Dallas who the ranch owners, Barbara Nunneley and her partner, Jan Deatherage, had hired to outline the roof of their house with Christmas lights.<\/p>\n

He noticed the huge, lone pecan tree out in their pasture and told them it\u2019d make a spectacular light display.\u00a0 But at the time, Nunneley thought it was an extravagance that was a bit too expensive.<\/p>\n

Her mind was changed two years later when her dad, who always said Christmas was his favorite time of year, was losing his battle to the terminal stage of prostate cancer.\u00a0 She decided the display would be an appropriate tribute to her father, so she called Rathburn and told him: \u201cLet\u2019s do it!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It takes a crew of up to eight workers from the Christmas Light Company about 20 hours to string the over 60,000 LED lights used to cover the tree.\u00a0 And because the pecan tree is so tall, they have to use a huge cherry picker in order to reach the top.<\/p>\n

Nunnelly planned the inaugural lighting of the decked out old pecan tree as the featured event for the family\u2019s annual Thanksgiving gathering at the ranch.\u00a0 But sadly, her father was not able to make the 70-mile drive from Nocona to Bartonville for the festivities.\u00a0 Sadly, he passed away the very next day.<\/p>\n

Nunnelly said about the inaugural lighting: \u201cIt took my breath away.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0And given the background for its inception she recalls: \u201cIt was a little spiritual, a little emotional.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 But she philosophically adds: \u201cMy daddy did not ever see it from Earth, but I\u2019m real sure he saw it,\u201d<\/em> casting her eyes skyward.<\/p>\n

The tree brought them such joy they decided they would make it an annual tradition to honor her dad.\u00a0 And its notoriety has grown so that now folks from all over the South and Southwest travel to enjoy the light show.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s also join in for some of its mystical delight \u2026<\/p>\n

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As its fame has grown, she notes that sunset is the most popular time for visitors to enjoy the light display.<\/p>\n

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And Nunnelly notes that over the years it\u2019s become a favorite romantic setting for the younger folks in the area to stage their proposals – which is perfectly understandable …<\/p>\n

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Nunnelly admits she gets a kick out of the irony that over a dozen young men have asked her permission to \u201cpop the question\u201d under her pecan tree, in light of the fact that she\u2019s a divorce lawyer.\u00a0 But adds she does have a personal rule that she\u2019ll never take a case of someone who proposed under her tree.<\/p>\n

If any of you folks in the area ever make it to the ranch, I\u2019d enjoy hearing about your experience.\u00a0 Until then, I\u2019ll just have to enjoy it vicariously \u2026<\/p>\n

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RESOURCES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

GIFs are from CBS:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pecan tree decorated for Christmas draws visitors from hundreds of miles away – CBS News<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/pecan-tree-decorated-for-christmas-draws-visitors-from-hundreds-of-miles-away\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Story is largely from Texas Monthly:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

An Old Pecan Tree Is a Beacon of Hope at the Holidays \u2013 Texas Monthly<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/travel\/bartonville-pecan-tree-lights-holidays\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a ranch in Bartonville, TX a 150-year-old pecan tree is the tableau for an annual spectacular light display every Christmas.\u00a0 The locals call it the \u201cOMG Tree\u201d \u2013 and with good reason! It began as a suggestion back in 2005 from Bill Rathburn, owner of the Christmas Light Company in Dallas who the ranch […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3784,5668,5669,4276],"class_list":["post-53687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-christmas","tag-lights","tag-pecan-tree","tag-texas","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}