{"id":438099,"date":"2025-12-10T15:26:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438099\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:26:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:26:15","slug":"armour-building-holiday-lights-in-the-fort-worth-stockyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438099\/","title":{"rendered":"Armour Building Holiday Lights in the Fort Worth Stockyards"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Fort Worth Stockyards, a three-story warehouse now shines with a display rooted in a childhood tradition from Buffalo, New York \u2014 where\u00a0Jordan Jayson<\/a>, chairman and CEO of U.S. Energy Development Corp, grew up watching his parents light their home so brightly that the neighborhood called it the \u201cChristmas house.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, that glow crowns the refurbished\u00a0Armour\u00a0Building, a 50,000-square-foot relic\u00a0east of the iconic\u00a0Stockyards, which\u00a0now serves\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0headquarters for U.S. Energy Development Corporation. For Jayson, the building\u00a0represents\u00a0a convergence of two inheritances: the independent oil and gas company his parents\u00a0founded\u00a0and the ritual of holiday decorating that shaped his earliest memories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jayson stepped into leadership of U.S. Energy after building a career on Wall Street, bringing with him the discipline and perspective he had gained before returning to the family business. Under his direction, the company has become a steady, competitive operator \u2014 thoughtful in strategy, resilient in practice, and positioned to navigate an industry that rarely holds still.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it is the building\u2019s seasonal glow \u2014 the giant cowboy Santa Clause, the garlands, the trees, the sweep of lights visible for blocks \u2014 that pulls people in.\u00a0Adjacent to\u00a0that same rooftop, Jayson and his sister Jacqueline spoke easily, their memories spilling out as warmly as the lights below during a conversation in early December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, my parents were very, very into this time of year and Christmas decorations, and I would say they beat everybody to the punch,\u201d Jacqueline said, laughing at the memory. \u201cWe\u2019reso used to that now \u2014 part of our culture. You go through Highland Park and look at the fancy homes, but this was back in the mid-\u201970s.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She went on to describe how their parents decorated the house so extensively that traffic officers were stationed out\u00a0front\u00a0and local news crews filmed the display. \u201cWe were known as the Christmas home in Buffalo,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those childhood rituals \u2014 elves, candy canes,\u00a0a Santa\u00a0in the driveway \u2014 formed the core of the family\u2019s seasonal identity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did have to dress up as elves,\u201d Jordan said, smiling. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0not kidding.\u00a0We\u2019d\u00a0stand in front of the house, and my mom would encourage other high school or college kids to help. We had a Santa handing out candy canes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their mother, Jacqueline said, \u201calways loved hosting parties, and she was always trying to find the things that would bring you happiness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decorating\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0just\u00a0a spectacle;\u00a0it was a\u00a0massive part of\u00a0uplifting\u00a0the community, Jordan noted. \u201cShe just\u00a0wanted to\u00a0bring joy to the neighborhood.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When U.S. Energy bought the\u00a0Armour\u00a0Building, the family faced a question: What could this weathered warehouse contribute to Fort Worth? The renovation, led by Bennett Partners, preserved the building\u2019s industrial bones while adding new life. Early in those design conversations, Jordan made one clear request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started having all these meetings\u2026 one of my first conversations with them was that we intended to do something like this from a Christmas standpoint, so make sure the outlets and the electrical infrastructure can handle what you see right now,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s lights marked the first full display. \u201cWhen they put \u2019em\u00a0up last year, I was like, wow, this\u00a0is amazing,\u201d Jacqueline recalled. \u201cAnd this year there\u2019s probably 30%\u00a0more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve\u00a0been careful, though, not to chase excess. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to go too Griswold-ish,\u201d Jordan admitted. \u201cMaybe a Santa photo opportunity, but that\u2019s it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked what their late parents would have thought of the display, Jacqueline said, \u201cMy mom would be ecstatic.\u201d Jordan quickly chimed in, \u201cDad was never happy when he read the electric bill in January, but he never put a stop to it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They traded stories about the 600-pound steel angels their mother once insisted they haul into place, and about donating the decorations to the Buffalo Zoo when the family moved away.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d drive by the Buffalo Zoo, and you\u2019d see these huge steel snow angels\u2026 it was nice to go back and see that,\u201d Jacqueline said.\u00a0\u201cIn a small way, the zoo helped keep mom\u2019s tradition alive.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here in Fort Worth, the\u00a0Armour\u00a0Building has quietly taken on a similar role.\u00a0Visitors park\u00a0just to walk past it. Friends detour on the way to dinner. Employees\u2019 kids call it \u201cthe Christmas building.\u201d One teammate\u2019s daughter,\u00a0working\u00a0the nearby ice rink, told her friends\u00a0she\u2019d\u00a0parked \u201cin the Christmas building,\u201d and the name stuck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d Jacqueline said. \u201cThis is actually really beautiful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jordan nodded. \u201cWe think it looks great and we are happy to be able to contribute to the festivities of Fort Worth around the holidays.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Fort Worth Stockyards, a three-story warehouse now shines with a display rooted in a childhood tradition…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":438100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,12043,202540,37383,7371,51225,7372,70423,10763,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-438099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arts-and-culture","10":"tag-christmas-decor","11":"tag-christmas-lights","12":"tag-fort-worth","13":"tag-fort-worth-stockyards","14":"tag-fortworth","15":"tag-historic-building","16":"tag-stephen-montoya","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-top-story","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115695975421263928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}