Each year for two evenings, they house Christmas scenes from the times of local ranching pioneers in many of the museum structures.

Mrs. Wimberley was first introduced to the Candlelight event by her Frenship High School history teacher, John Franklin, who made American history come alive for many students through his years at FHS. The Junior Historians group participated in Candlelight in many of the structures, and Wimberley’s picture was on the front of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce magazine the following year to advertise the event again. She participated in Candlelight one year in high school and recruited college friends to participate for two years thereafter.

Wimberley and her first grade students enter living history as they become the pioneer class in the Bairfield one-room schoolhouse. This structure was the school for many children from 1890 to the mid-1930’s, being moved several places between ranches. The Crestview Tigers become those students for this event, as around 9000 members of the public saunter by and peer into the life of the schoolhouse class. Students write on slates with chalk, act out the Twelve Days of Christmas, read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” have a spelling bee, perform many songs like they would have for a Christmas pageant, and think about math problems with a ranching context. She typically has seven to 10 of her first graders and one or two of her past (now older) students each evening in the school. This helps show the multi-grades that would have been in class all together.

Common conversations in the schoolhouse include chores they did before coming to school, how they traveled to school, Christmas gifts they are hoping for (a piece of candy or fruit), how many birds were gifts in the 12 days of Christmas, the stories behind Christmas hymns and songs, and the date (December, 1890). The schoolhouse is filled with singing and laughter each evening for three hours.

Mrs. Wimberley begins the week by teaching all first grade students at Crestview about the history of pioneers coming to our area, using an NRHC museum trunk of artifacts for children to experience pioneer life. They hold kitchen utensils and a school bell, read authentic schoolbooks, rub kitchen towels on a washboard, and play with jacks, marbles, and wooden toys. They begin to appreciate the period of history, as well as the triumphs and hardships of life for pioneer families. This also helps the Candlelight participants prepare to be in the living history event at the NRHC.

“These 20 years with kids at Candlelight has been exhilarating mostly because I see the kids learning and really enjoying history. When they become those pioneers, they understand. And then they come back to me 10, 15, now 20 years later and say they remember this clearly. One contacted me this year who was in my first class at Crestview and told me it was her favorite memory from school," said Wimberley. "Well, that means I need to keep doing this! I’m honored to keep sponsoring our students at this event, and honored that the museum wants us to keep coming. I also love watching the parents as their children go out onto the museum property in their period clothing, and suddenly it looks like we’ve stepped back in time. Parents always have astonished looks. It all just gives me goosebumps. I’m still just thankful that Mr. Franklin walked me in that museum door all those years ago.”

Wimberley has presented her research and experience for various educational audiences, including Frenship teachers, classes at the NRHC, and at national social studies conferences, emphasizing the how a close classroom tie with a local museum can enhance understanding.