Branson: Where Jesus is Still
the Reason for the Season

By Jim Day

Can you believe the holiday season is here already? Yep, it’s time to dig out that turkey stuffing recipe and start thinking about Christmas gifts. It’s also time for all those wonderful Christmas shows in Branson to kick into high gear.

If you’ve never taken the time to go to Branson, MO during the holidays you don’t know what you’re missing. It really is a wonderful place for families to visit. A place, I might add, where entertainers are not afraid to proclaim the real reason for the season – the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede actually kicked off the Christmas season in Branson on October 24th with their spectacular Christmas dinner show. Their live nativity scene is enough to send chills down your spine. They’ve spared no expense in bringing Bethlehem alive with shepherds and a live flock of sheep, goats, donkeys, towns people, three kings riding in on camels, a manger scene with Joseph, Mary and the Christ Child, and the descent of an angel from on high who stretches out her arms to welcome a white dove which flies across the entire performance area to settle on her hand. I gotta tell you, when that dove fluttered to her hand my wife and I had tears in our eyes. It is a spectacular sight that you’ll never forget.

With lots of star-filled Christmas shows, Branson’s star performers, special effects and elaborate holiday production numbers will surely make great memories for the family.

The list of Christ honoring shows and sights is almost endless. You’ve got the famous voice of ‘Mr. Christmas’ Andy Williams, the music and comedy of the Baldknobbers, the Horn Family at the Circle B Chuck Wagon, the Doug Gabriel Show at the Jim Stafford Theater, illusionists Dave Hamner and Jim Barber, the musical group Pierce Arrow with Kim Boyce at the Pierce Arrow Theater, the magic show of Kirby VanBurch, the Presley Family, the Lennon Sisters, the Gatlin Brothers, Barbara Fairchild, the Sons of the Pioneers, Dino, the Allen Family Simply Christmas Show and, of course, Silver Dollar City with their acclaimed Dickens’ Christmas Carol play that’s packed with special effects and said to be one of the best productions in the history of the park.

In addition to the shows you can board the Showboat Branson Belle which will be decked in Christmas finery and charting a course with holiday food and fun on Table Rock Lake, take in the World’s Largest Toy Museum, which also houses the Harold Bell Wright Museum, and visit the Stained Glass Theatre in Ozark, MO (just 30 minutes north of Branson).

Of course there are tons of Christmas light displays to see like the Branson Area Festival of Lights, the displays at the Enchanted Forest on Indian Point Rd. and the Trail of Lights at Shepherd of the Hills Farm – just to name a few.

If it has been awhile since you’ve even visited Branson, you’ll certainly want to visit the new Branson Landing. Anchored by the newly built Branson Hilton Convention Center Hotel, (which just opened up this past August) the Branson Landing features a promenade of trendy specialty shopping and dining establishments, plus a spectacular water and fire show that dances to the sounds of the season in the town square. One of the best places to watch the water show is aboard one of the amphibious landing crafts of Ride the Ducks which will take you for an interesting tour of historical Branson and then out on Lake Taneycomo for a terrific view of the water show.

If you time your visit to be there on December 2nd, you’ll get to see the 59th Annual Adoration Parade and Lighting Ceremony. The theme of the festivities has always been “Keeping Christ in Christmas” and there isn’t a hint of commercialism anywhere to be found. The parade typically has dozens of bands and floats and the lighting ceremony consists of lighting up a giant Nativity scene that sits atop Mt. Branson.

As I said earlier in this article, if you’ve never taken the time to visit Branson during the holiday season you don’t know what you’re missing. It really is a wonderful place for families to visit during the holidays. All of the shows, and most of the places to visit I’ve mentioned, proudly proclaim the name of Christ and stand tall for the real reason for the season – the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.

You can order a free Branson Vacation Guide by calling the Branson/Lakes Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 214-3661 or visit www.explorebranson.com.