Festival of Trees and Lights

During the first week of December, we completed the 3rd annual Festival of Trees & Lights in Sacramento. It was amazing. I learned so much. I learned that we shouldn't plan every December event during the first week of December. Ugh! I learned that the best job in the world for the Festival of Trees and Lights is the volunteer coordinator. You get to meet hundreds of people and they come from all different walks of life. You also get to meet all the tree designers and watch their brains go to town. AMAZING! I don't think I could ever be a Christmas designer. However, I love being walked through the process by an expert. They generally have a plan and they implement it perfectly. As teachers, we constantly have to change our plans to meet the needs of our students. It was neat to see perfect plans be implemented perfectly..or almost perfectly. hehe..(inside joke!)




Neat story about one of the designers. Valerie Valentine owns the Design Gallery on Fair Oaks. She's amazing! Anyways, I visited her store when she wasn't there with a friend. We walked around looking at all the beautiful trees. When we entered, we saw this amazing tree at the front door. I fell in love with it. It was definitely over the top, but it was just warm and welcoming. Anyways, I knew she was going to donate a tree to our event, but I wasn't sure which tree would be chosen. When her delivery guys showed up, the tree they brought in was "the Apricot Tree." It was the one we wanted! I literally shed a tear when I saw it! Thanks Valerie for all your hard work.




Then there's Chelsey. Chelsey LaPlaca is my amazing friend with three triplets. She sings. She dances. She's a gifted decorator. She was the decorating queen designer for the event. Can you imagine decorating a community event with three triplets at home? Anyways, she's "off-the-hook." How she does it I'll never know. I had the opportunity to work with her a little during the event. Her support system is awesome and her brain can process more information than a head chef at a 5 star restaurant. Its unbelieveable to watch. Anyways, all that garland and all that sparkle comes from her expertise. During the same week, she was responsible for our Relief Society Meeting. We put together over 150 crafts to sell at the Holiday Boutique. She was once again the leader on that event. I know..amazing..huh?


I also wanted to thank my sisters, Julie, Becky, & adopted sister Nancy, for coming and buying out the place. Your donation to the homeless in Sacramento is greatly appreciated. :) They left with three trees..two small and one big. They also left with a few crafts and a ton of other goodies. Thanks girls! Thanks again to everyone that came. If you're interested in volunteering next year for the event, let me know. We're always looking for people to make scarves, aprons, and other simple crafts for the holiday boutique. :)

Top Ten Things I learned this year at the Festival of Trees and Lights

10. Don't forget your parking pass. (could cost you $15 a day if you don't get one.) Volunteers get a free pass from the volunteer coordinator.

9. Carl's Jr. has strawberry soda at the downtown mall.

8. Don't forget your green floral wire to tie on all your tree ornaments.

7. Invite all your friends to be volunteers. It's a great way to catch up with all your buddies that you don't see regularly.

6. Teachers and my students' parents are great volunteers. They always show up on time.

5. Don't talk to tree decorators until they're "done," and don't mess up their plans. EVER!

4. Ettore's cookies are the best.

3. Live auctions are intense! If you have an extra $300 bucks next year, you can get an awesome tree. Some large trees sold for only $250 this year.

2. My family is pretty lucky when it comes to raffle tickets. Tyrone won three things last year and Becky won two things this year! (an ipod and $100 in gift certificates for Golfland Sunsplash)

1. Even though the economy is horrific, we still were able to make a profit and fund the Cathedral Homeless Square Program for the year. In other words, when people tell you that you shouldn't do something because the economy is bad, don't listen. We still have homeless people we need to feed and help in Sacramento. Go Team FOTL!