Last year we were at the Festival of Trees, as we are every year. It's a tradition. But last year, we had a fake tree that had been given to us by my uncle. It didn't come with a fake tree stand. So I'd had my father fashion a real tree stand so that it would hold our donated, fake tree. It worked for five years. Last year was year six, and it wasn't working anymore. At one point the kids had put something under the tree, and I had gone under the tree to retrieve it. I bumped the tree while I was under there, and the whole thing started to topple. I grabbed the "trunk" and held up this huge, heavy tree by just the base of the bar. The kids were so fascinated by what was happening that they wouldn't move away, and my fear was that I was going to drop the tree on one of them. So I held it. And held it. And held it. I don't know how long I was under that tree. It seemed like a long time. Jason was upstairs doing something and couldn't hear my pleas for help. By the time I was rescued, my arms and back were so sore! I swore I would never put that tree up again in my house. When we took it down at season's end, I gave it away. So at the Festival of Trees last year, we almost bought a tree because there were several still waiting to be purchased. We decided against it since none of the trees available were really calling to us. But then this year rolled around, and we didn't have a tree...
So we donated money to Primary Children's Hospital, which got us a ticket to auction night at the Festival of Trees. EEEEEEeeeee! We got a babysitter and some fancy clothes so we could go hobnob with "the rich folk". I expected to be severely out matched money-wise, and we were in many respects, but that isn't what caught my attention about all the people there. What I noticed was the willing flow of happy greetings and kindness. Everyone there had arrived with GIVING in mind. You should have seen the Loooooooonnnnng line of people just waiting to get in there! So many people, and not one bit of trouble or discontent to be seen. As we stood in this long line, we talked to the nicest couple behind us. They were many years our senior, and they had great advice to give since they had purchased many Christmas trees this way. They buy one about every year and hand the "old" tree down to one of their seven kids each year. Doesn't that just sound like so much fun?!
If you don't know what the Festival of Trees is, I'll tell you. :) It's row after row after row--18 rows, in fact, with about 35 trees on each row--of large trees, all donated by kind people with grateful hearts for Primary Children's Hospital. Most trees are donated in honor of someone who died or overcame a life-threatening event. That's just the beginning. There are also rows and rows and rows of wreaths, quilts, small trees, decorations, playhouses, gingerbread houses, etc. The South Towne Expo Center is FILLED with this stuff, all donated and all available to be purchased. And everyone who runs this event is a volunteer. Which means every single penny spent goes to Primary Children's Hospital. Do you have any idea how many pennies that is? If this magnitude of giving doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will. It is an awe-inspiring event to behold. And I was blessed enough to be there for it. On the open-house days (the four days following auction night) there is also a kids area and performers on stage. Again, everyone in these areas is a volunteer. People are amazing. (As a side note, I was telling Jason that when our pass into the auction night expires in a couple years, I want to go volunteer as an auctioneer. It would be fun to spend my days raising money for such a wonderful cause.)
So promptly at 5:00pm, the doors opened, and everyone started browsing the goods. The auction closed at three separate times, all half an hour apart. Jason and I rushed from tree to tree trying to find just the right one. We found about two dozen that we could have purchased and been happy with, but none of them felt right until we saw this:
There was also this tree, which also fell into the last group of trees to be auctioned:
"Reunited" had only two bids on it, mine and one other. The other bidder took a long time to show up, so Jason's auction at the other tree ended before mine even started. We had set a max price for "The King Of Kings". Jason went to write down the number we had discussed previously, and then thought better of it; our number was a round number, and he knew it was instinct to write down a round number. So he wrote down just a few dollars above our previously discussed round number. There was a whole group of people bidding on "The King of Kings", and as the bids were read, the price was climbing, but it hadn't reached our max bid yet. Someone else had written down our round number, so when Jason's bid was read, he had beaten out the other guy by a few dollars only. Jason won the tree! He was super excited, but he also felt bad about beating that guy so closely. He apologized, but the guy said it was fair and congratulated him. (As I said before, no one there was petty about anything.)
Jason called me to make sure I was still at "Reunited" and then headed my way. We waited for the other lady to arrive, and when she finally did, she just said she didn't want this tree anymore because she had won another tree. So I got "Reunited" for a super good price! That's right; we went home with TWO trees! :D :D :D
We also bid on a beautiful nativity, but we were out-bid in the blind auction. There were about eight people bidding on it, and one lady wanted to make sure she went home with it, so she tripled the price! Every penny goes to charity, so it's great that she's so willing to put her money on such a worthy prize. We did NOT write down triple the price, needless to say, and lost that auction.
At the lighting ceremony afterward, they had a very witty, young cancer patient give a brilliant speech before flipping the switch to light all the trees at once. (The lights had been on earlier, but all had been turned off just for this occasion.) Carmen Rasmusen sang a wonderful Christmas song also.
Afterward, Jason and I went out to dinner... at about 10pm. It was so nice to have a dinner together. We love dinners with the children, but dinners are just different when you don't have to cut up someone else's food and feed it to them. I didn't even have to beg Jason to eat anything on his plate. ;)
Yesterday the trees were delivered!
Jason was teaching Elder's Quorum. (He's in the presidency.) So I was home with the kids to receive the delivery truck. A whole mass of people poured into my house, all of them carrying something or other. They set up "The King of Kings" first. We had cleared out the entire toy room previously so we could put this tree in what used to be the toy room.
We wanted a set of doors between S and the tree since she wasn't very gentle with grandma and grandpa's tree while we were visiting their house. (Between S destroying the tree with cousin E and Seth flooding the basement, we may never be invited back, and I wouldn't blame them. But these are all stories for another day...) We've moved the toys into the storage under the stairs and behind the couch.
Some toys went into storage in the water heater closet, but these particular toys probably needed to go anyway. This means all the items stored underneath the stairs are now in Jason's office. Thanks for the sacrifice, Jason!
One man saw the kids crawling on me like ants and decided to help out. He held S the rest of the time he was here and played with her really sweetly. Kai got so excited he was running back and forth and wouldn't quit. I think he just didn't know what else to do with his excitement. It was hilarious. He bites his lip just so, and it's awesome.
We didn't show "Reunited" to the kids until Jason came home because we wanted to show them the toys under the tree together. They ran in and were so super excited. There were originally no toys for a child Kai's age, so we took out one older toy to make it even and added a couple of toys for Kai.
Seth got an electricity board and a microscope.
Kai got a gear set and simple transformers.
S got a cabbage patch doll that came with light up shoes and a Carebear that came with a short video.
It was like pre-Christmas around here! We spent the rest of the evening playing with each child individually, and it was the best day. I loved just wandering from child to child and making each one feel special.
Between Jason being in a Christmas musical, giving a lot of money to charity, reading all the miraculous stories at the Festival, getting Christ-centered trees, and having a date with my love, I like how this season is shaping up! I'm so grateful for Christmas.
More pictures of "Reunited":
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