Welcome Back to Texas

The Texas Hill Country is waiting for you — and so is this hotel deal

Summer travel is officially upon us, and while there are plenty of options to consider, the Texas Hill Country definitely needs to be on the top of your list. Here's why: The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa is gearing up for summer and ready to welcome you back to travel with big summer savings.

Book your next vacation by May 18 for travel May 1 through August 31 and you'll save 10 percent on four-night stays and 15 percent on reservations of five nights or more.

Here's what's waiting for you at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa:

Stay a while
You'll find respite in the upscale accommodations, which includes 1,002 guest rooms with expansive floorplans, plush furnishings, and breathtaking views of the Texas Hill Country. The property itself is nestled amid 600 acres of oak-covered hills, a luxury haven in a stunning landscape.

Relax and rejuvenate
Find your balance at the luxurious Lantana Spa, which offers indulgent spa services and treatments as well as a private spa pool and hot tub. With 28 luxurious treatment rooms, guests can indulge in a full menu of personalized treatments using the highest-quality products and latest in spa technology.

Time for play
Enjoy Hill Country views while playing at TPC San Antonio, the resort's private, two 18-hole PGA TOUR golf courses. The 23-acre practice facility provides ample space to hone your skills, along with access to world-class golf instruction by the club's team of skilled PGA professionals.

Following a game of golf, thrill the family with the nine-acre water park that comes complete with water slides, a 1,100-foot-long lazy river, multiple activity pools, and a sandy beach play area.

Order up
After a full day of sightseeing or relaxing by the pool, guests can savor delectable fare at the resort's many award-winning restaurants. Culinary adventures await at 18 Oaks Steakhouse, offering a true taste of Texas, and at Cibolo Moon, offering cultural dishes of the region.

To plan your summer getaway to the Texas Hill Country with this incredible offer, visit here.

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Keep up with the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

The longer you stay, the more you save.

JW Marriott San Antonio hotel

Photo by Werner Segarra Photography

The longer you stay, the more you save.

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Texas parks beckon throughout 2022 holidays with festive events and peaceful escapes

camping holidays state parks

Photo courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife

Campers are encouraged to decorate their sites at parks this season.

If roasting ‘smores and hiking in the great outdoors sounds fun, pack up your family and visit one of Texas’ state parks this holiday season.

Texas state parks and historic sites are ringing in the holidays with a number of festive events. There are drive-thru light tours, special holiday hikes, arts and crafts for the kiddos, and more.

Reservations fill up quickly, so be sure to visit an individual park's website before you head out. And check the Holidays in the Parks page for many more fun options, pricing information, and more information.

Dallas-Fort Worth-area parks

Tyler State Park
Avoid the Black Friday madness with the 15th annual “Walk-off the Bird” Bird Walk, a 2.1-mile walk by the lakeshore at 9 am November 25. Bring your binoculars to relax and enjoy the bird life of the East Texas Pineywoods. At 2 pm the same day, enjoy a Fall in the Savannah fall foliage hike. Enjoy Reading Ranger Campfire Stories around a cozy campfire at 3 pm December 3. Head back December 9-10 for A Pineywoods Christmas, when you can stroll or drive through the Lakeview and Big Pine campgrounds to take in campers' elaborately decorated sites and take a Winter Wonderland Hike.

Lake Tawakoni State Park
Drive through or stay at the park and decorate your campsite with your favorite Christmas decorations to receive your second night of camping free during your stay. There will be a decorating contest, complete with awards, as well as a reading of The Night before Christmas — all part of Twinkle Tour 2022, 5-8 pm December 3.

Daingerfield State Park
Drive through the park lit up like Santa Land during the 10th annual Christmas in the Park drive thru lights tour December 14-17 (times vary). Marvel at the decorated campsites and lights, and enjoy hot chocolate and cookies while waiting for a chance to visit with Santa.

Eisenhower State Park
Help those in need and spread holiday cheer — and as a bonus, get free entry to the park — by bringing one unwrapped donation item to the park’s Holiday Donation Drive from November 25 to December 19. Come back December 9-10 to visit the Light Up the Park drive-thru lights event, featuring milk and cookies with Santa. This year, the park is taking unwrapped toys to donate instead of collecting entrance fees for the event.

Cleburne State Park
Enjoy Pancakes With Santa and make pinecone bird feeders 9-11 a.m. December 10.

Cedar Hill State Park
Walk off your Thanksgiving Day meal and explore nature in the cool fall air during the three-mile Thanksgiving Nature Walk 7:30-9 a.m. November 26. Search for birds taking their winter break at the park during their Winter Birding Walk, which takes place 7:30-8:30 am December 13. Explore Christmas on Penn Farm on December 17: Learn about the history and pioneers of the Penn Family and the farm they built 150 years ago.

Lake Mineral Wells State Park
Experience Christmas, cowboy style, at Cross Timbers Cowboy Christmas, December 3. Park ranger and cowboy poet David Owens will gather guests around a campfire at the Lone Star Amphitheater for an evening of cowboy culture through songs, stories and poems.

Dinosaur Valley State Park
In partnership with Toys for Tots, the park is hosting Christmas in the Valley, a full day of ranger-led events, programs, family friendly activities, arts and crafts, food and more. Bring a new and unwrapped toy for free admission for the whole family. The event takes place 1-4 pm. December 17.

Austin/San Antonio-area parks

Bastrop State Park
The park’s annual Gobble Till You Wobble hike November 25 has been canceled due to predicted rains. However, you can still follow ornaments with clues through the park every day in December during the annual Fa La La Through The Forest Scavenger Hunt. Enjoy the Lost Pines Christmas Parade, a collaborative event with Bastrop and Buescher Parks, at 6 pm December 10. Tour the inside of the historic Refectory and see how the Civilian Conservation Corps celebrated Christmas away from home during A Lost Pines CCC Christmas 9 a.m. to noon December 17.

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site
Attend Deck the Halls, 10 am. to 3 pm November 26 to explore how early Texans at the Sauer-Beckmann Farm got ready for the holidays by stringing popcorn and decorating cookies to hang on their Christmas tree; learn how to make wreaths out of local cedar and dip candles as the farm staff get ready for das Weihnachten (Christmas). Return to the park at 5:30 pm December 18 for the 53rd Annual Tree Lighting, a holiday tradition started by President and Mrs. Johnson.

Garner State Park
Join the Buffalo Soldiers program and friends as they stop into Garner State Park before leaving for Christmas break during the Marching Towards Christmas event 10 am to 2 pm December 10. Christmas activities will include hand-dipped candles, frontier Christmas painting, Christmas-themed hard tack in Dutch ovens, and stories of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Buescher State Park
Take a Giving Thanks Guided Hike and learn how the Civilian Conservation Corps built the park from 3-4 pm November 26. On the Fa La La in the Forest Scavenger Hunt, you can follow ornaments with clues through the park to secure a prize at the end, December 1 to January 1. Enjoy the Smithville Festival of Lights and Lighted Parade, a collaborative effort between Buescher and Bastrop parks, on December 3.

Hill Country State Natural Area
See how art, history and state parks are connected; learn some basic watercolor techniques and paint a card or two to take home during the Watercolor Christmas Cards event 2:30-4 p.m. December 3. Come back for Horses in History & Ornament Craft from 2:30-4 pm. December 22 and learn how horses played important roles in the lives of vaqueros, native people, ranchers and more. Then, play a round of horseshoes and paint a horse ornament to take with you.

South Llano River State Park
At Christmas at the Ranch, 2 to 5 pm December 3, guests can warm up with hot chocolate and cider, listen to live entertainment, enjoy crafts and cookie decorating, and anticipate Santa's visit while taking in the twinkling lights and Christmas decorations at the historic Ranch House that now serves as Park Headquarters.

Houston and Gulf Coast-area parks

Brazos Bend State Park
Holiday in the Park is an all-day affair on December 10. Events include a self-guided "Elf Hike," Christmas crafts, "Pup Parade," s'mores, and more.

Goose Island State Park
See the park in lights, enjoy holiday activities, and camp for free when you decorate your campsite during Christmas in the Park on December 17. Guests are invited to "Santa's Village" at the CCC Recreation Hall for holiday crafts, games, hot chocolate around the campfire, and to drop off letters to Santa in the North Pole Mailbox.

Lake Livingston State Park
Learn about your favorite Thanksgiving food (the turkey) during Campfire Turkey Talk on November 26. Rangers will cover the history of Thanksgiving, the habits and behaviors of wild turkeys, and share interesting facts about turkeys, including how it nearly became our national bird.

Lake Corpus Christi State Park
Get in the holiday spirit with the second annual Holiday Light Drive Thru 6-9 pm December 10. Visitors can enter the park for a drive through the lighted areas of Javelina and Opossum Bend camping loops, plus the Old Pavilion.

West Texas and the Panhandle-area parks

Franklin Mountains State Park
Pack your Thanksgiving leftovers and hike 1.5 miles up to Aztec Caves during the park’s Turkey Trot at 11 am November 25. On December 3, make ornaments and holiday cards with recycled materials as part of the Art in the Parks series. During Cookies and Cocoa, you can decorate and take home your own Christmas treat while sipping on a cup of hot chocolate 2-4 pm December 23. Come back on Christmas Eve for a guided, two-mile Santa Hike at 11 am.

Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site
Bring your family out for Home for the Holidays guided family hike on December 10 and moderate hike on 17.

San Angelo State Park
Enjoy a drive-thru tour of lights and optional pictures with Santa and Smokey Bear during Holly-Days in the Park 6-8 pm December 10.

holidays texas vacation parks

Santa Baby

Affluent Fort Worth neighbor leads list of lavish holiday spending budgets in U.S.

Holiday shopping, gifts

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Presents for everyone!

As the most wonderful time of the year approaches, holiday shopping budgets are in the spotlight, and a study from WalletHub lists Flower Mound as one of the top cities where Santa doesn't need a whole lot of help.

According to the personal finance website, the average holiday budget in Flower Mound is $3,531 per person, the third highest in the nation.

The town's 2021 population of 77,243 (per the U.S. Census) boasts a median income $139,703 and earlier this year was named by Ventured.com as the richest city in Texas.

In spite of an increase over last year's gift list totals, Flower Mound dropped to the third spot after being ranked No. 1 last year with a budget of $3,427. Newton, Massachusetts (budget $4,233) and Palo Alto, California (budget $3,920) edged out the Texas city this year.

Flower Mound was the only Texas city in the top 10, but there's plenty of holiday cheer to be found in the report, and not just for Flower Mound Santa fans.

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for over 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Despite nationwide focus on inflation strains, holiday spending is expected to be healthy, and higher than last year.

"The seeming social upheaval in recent times may lead households to spend more in an attempt to take some control of the environment which they can control," says Robert Wright, University of Illinois, Springfield professor emeritus who was among five experts consulted for advice about holiday shopping.

This could be good news if your Christmas wishes are on local shopping lists. Eight other North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 heftiest holiday budgets:

Allen, No. 17 , $2,670
Frisco, No. 37, $2,150
McKinney, No. 45, $2,070
Plano, No. 50, $1,999
Carrollton, No. 55, $1,837
Richardson, No. 58, $1,823
North Richland Hills, No. 81, $1,658
Lewisville, No. 90, $1,630

Fort Worth landed at No. 366 with a budget of $890, while Dallas landed at No. 401 out of 558 cities with an average holiday budget of $845.

Elsewhere in Texas, spending in the Austin area won't be ho-hum with the Capitol City's budget of $1,705 ranked at No. 78. Two Austin suburbs, Cedar Park (budget $2,855) and League City (budget $2,541) ranked 14 and 20, respectively.

Santa's bag could be a mixed bag in the Houston area with three suburbs in the top 100, but the urban center falling behind:

Sugar Land, No. 15, $2,793
Pearland, No. 36, $2,172
The Woodlands, No. 71, $1,733
Houston, No. 366, $890

Things don't look too jolly for San Antonio, ranked at No. 431 with an average budget of $803 or Pharr, which was the lowest ranked city in Texas.

At No. 553 with a budget of $487, the Rio Grande Valley city came in just a few spots ahead of last place Hartford, Connecticut, with a budget of only $211.

holidays shopping

Festival news

Fun new international anime music festival heads to Dallas-Fort Worth with global rave faves

Kizuna AI Original Singerloid “#kzn”

Image courtesy of LiveNation

Kizuna AI Original Singerloid — #kzn — is one of the headliners.

Attention all anime fans: A major, global festival is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth to rock out with some of the biggest superstars in the genre.

The inaugural International Anime Music Festival heads to Toyota Music Factory in Irving on Saturday, February 25, 2023. It will also stop at Houston's 713 Music Hall on Sunday, February 26 as part of a 37-city trek across North America starting February 6.

Following the North American jaunt, the festival will journey across Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America in 2023.

What makes this different from other anime events? The International Anime Music Festival showcases characters on state-of-the-art LED and high-definition digital projections. A major draw: for the first time, popular VTubers (virtually generated animated YouTubers) and wildly popular Vocaloids (virtual singers with computer generated voices) will appear on stage together.

Die-hard fans can expect a live, DJ-led multimedia concert rave starring Kizuna AI Original Singerloid “#kzn,” vocal duo HIMEHINA, vocal trio MaRiNaSu, the North American debut of fan favorite GUMI, and pop twins LiLYPSE.

“I am excited to work with this extraordinary visually exciting art form,” says producer Marty Tudor in a press release announcing the event. “The energy that this group of virtual artists has is amazing and incites the best of our superb creative team. This show will be a blast!”

Music selects will feature new tunes and never-before-seen content performed by the fan-favorite, superstar avatars that originated in Japan and have exploded globally over the past two years. By the numbers, these characters generate more than 62 million Google searches and more than 1.2 billion views (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and others).

“I feel honored and privileged to be working with the talented IP holders and character creators of the five acts appearing on our International Anime Music Festival,” producer Bob Ringe says in a statement. “The response from the anime community and anime creators worldwide has exceeded my expectations. See you all at the festival!”

Tickets for all North American shows are on sale now online.