A Special Night

Ok, so lately, I have no patience for posting pictures. Our internet is being kinda quirky and Comcast (the culprit) should be out sometime this week to fix it but for now, you just get to listen to, or I should say read my ramblings.

A few months ago Kristi signed me up to volunteer for the Festival of Trees and boy am I glad she did. This is an event that we LOVE and have gone to every year except for last year, of course. It's so touching and special to see the amount of time, thought and love that goes into each and every donation for such a great cause. Every year I gain a little perspective on what matters. Every year I shed a tear or two for the parents who have lost their little ones - God bless them. Every year I am reminded of how truly blessed I am. And every year I really get to experience the spirit of Christmas as I see the generosity of so many.

I love how each donation has a story. As a volunteer you get to learn a little more about some of them. We hosted one of the centerpiece isles and there were two Christmas villages. Both were made by a 78 year old man who made 8 of them for the festival this year and has been making and donating them for several years. Last week he had a stroke and was hospitalized. When he regained the ability to speak the first thing he did was tell his children to make sure his villages made it to the festival. How amazingly selfless.

We witnessed a tree that was in memory of the four beautiful children one family lost, each due to illness. I can't imagine.

One gentleman told us about his experience wood carving. He is retired and carves beautiful trees to donate to the festival - one of them raised over $33,000. What an awesome contribution.

I could go on and on.

It's such a beautiful, amazing event. I love to go but I think I'll make it a tradition to volunteer from now on. It makes it even more amazing.