The Festival of Trees is a Lawrence tradition that raises funds for a local shelter. 50 businesses and/or individuals design trees in some form or other, in addition to a few wreaths and miscellaneous items. (If you wonder why I phrase it this way, consider that Lawrence is an "artsy" community. Trees this year were made of tennis balls, steel plates, picture frames, and bare branches, to name a few.) The gals in my stamp club have helped me prepare an entry for the past three years, but few of them have been involved in the drama of transport.
My DH drives a one-of-a-kind Toyota long bed, a faithful steed which was paid for before most of his student workers were born! It is now held together largely with 9"x12" Cisco sheet magnets (there is a LOT of rust to cover). Into the back went the tree, which I had spray painted black along with my left arm, complete with lights, crown and feather boas. Ornaments are required to be wired on for post-auction transport to a new home, but since ours were paper I decided to wait until the tree was inside!
Sometimes parking is in a far distant land, so the little red wagon comes along... this year, however, I was able (with the help of my sister and long-suffering teenage daughter) to carry the tree right into the front door. We set it up in record time, having already cut wire lengths and assembled all the necessary elements (Christmas crackers, masks, bouquets). The entry title was "A Yuletide Masque".
For the first time we sent a spy to the auction just to see what that part of the process was like. Jessica reported that trees started at $100, some going for more than $900! She stayed until 10:00pm but they still hadn't made it to ours. Our entry has always been purchased by "Anonymous" so I was extremely curious to learn who adopted our tree this year, but I guess it will remain a mystery. Ah, well.
Thanks to all those who helped make this happen once again. Check back later - I'll post the total raised by the event.
Warm wishes on a cold day,
Kathy
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