Festival of the Trees 2012

Our local Habitat for Humanity hosted Festival of Trees, an annual fundraiser at an independent living facility in our community.  It is one of our favorite seasonal events and part of our week-end to kickoff the holiday season.

Many creative people decorate themed trees to be sold with proceeds going to Habitat of Humanity.  There is also a Village Store featuring crafts and homemade goodies to purchase and take home. 

We enjoy looking at the many themed trees.  This year’s favorite was Angry Birds.  There were two Angry Birds themed trees with hand painted ornaments and both were sold by the time we arrived Saturday morning.  I have a feeling the boy would have used his allowance and birthday money to buy one if they hadn’t been sold.

In addition to the beautifully decorated Christmas trees, children’s activities are planned featuring our local celebrity clown Dizzy offering face painting, holiday cookie decorating, crafts, story time with a bag of goodies to take home, and of course, a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Grandma Carol is a resident of the independent living facility that provides a home for the event, so she was happy to join us for the fun.

We also bumped into some friends and took a moment to say hello and snap this photo.

Festival of Trees emulates the spirit of the season with beauty, light, and giving to those in need.  We were happy to take part in the event.

Festival of the Trees For Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity hosts a fundraiser each November called Festival of the Trees at Pennsylvania Place, a local retirement community.  The festivities last the week-end.

Friday evening, guests can purchase tickets for a lovely meal and get first dibs to purchase the beautifully decorated trees.

Individuals and businesses donate the decorated trees, wreaths, and garlands to be sold at the event.  All proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity.

On Saturday, Santa Claus is present to greet young or young at heart guests.  And, kids get to decorate cookies, make a craft, hear a story and receive a gift, and get their face painted.  Admission is $3 per person.

The creativity behind the decorated Christmas trees is amazing and something we look forward to seeing each year. 

On the way there in the car, we were trying to guess what themed trees we would see.  I wondered about a dinosaur tree.  Sure enough, there was a Dinosaur Train Christmas tree.

Pennsylvania Place is a grand backdrop to this festive event with plenty of space for all the trees.  And, the residents volunteer their time at various locations throughout the week-end.  Grandma Carol lives at Pennsylvania Place and she was working later that day in the Pennsylvania Room.

Those who purchase trees, wreaths, or garlands get to pick them up on Sunday.

There's a holiday store with lovely items to purchase along with a "cookie walk" where guests can select various cookies and other sweet yummies to put in their container.  The price is by the size of the container.  The sweet treats are all donated.

Festival of the Trees is one way we kick off the holiday season.  The boy came home with an ornament in his gift bag and can’t wait to put it on our tree!

And, we even found a bit of Disney at Festival of the Trees with a Christmas tree dedicated to the Disney Princesses.  Check it out:

A Week-end of Giving

This past week-end was a week-end of giving.  And, it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet!



Friday night was the opening night of our local area Chamber’s Holiday Nights and Lights.  One of our parks is filled with displays of holiday lights, that guests typically drive through to see.  But on Friday, guests could walk or hike the lights.  The fee was $5 per person and proceeds went to support our local trails—for walking and biking.

This is the third year we have hiked the lights and we brought along Grandma Carol and our dog.  The weather was great and the lights put everyone in the holiday spirit.

The boy noticed that two of the usual light displays were not there. . . the “shark” and the Wizard of Oz displays were missing.  The boy decided that they had been traded in for the Candy Factory light display.  He’s still not sure if it was worth the trade.

From now until shortly after the new year, the lights will be on each evening for drive through traffic.  There’s a house for Santa to visit at least until Christmas.

Saturday we took in the Festival of the Trees, a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, held at one of our local retirement living facilities.

Young guests got to decorate a cookie and take in a holiday story read by a special elf.

Santa was on hand to hear the wish lists of all the boys and girls.  The boy asked for trains!

I always admire the creativity of those that decorate the trees.  There were great themed trees this year and many different sized trees.

Sunday was the day for the annual Santa Paws event held at our local Earl May Garden Center as a fundraiser for Heartland Humane Society.

Each year, Earl May donates the setting, Santa donates his time, a local photographer donates time, equipment, and skill, and a local photo shop donates the photo processing.  Guests receive a great 5 X 7 photo of their pet with Santa for $10.

The three events, all packed into one week-end, catapulted us into the holiday season.  Now, I just need to get our tree up!