Festival of Trees

The festival of trees is seriously one of my favorite events of the year.  I always loved going to it when I was younger but over the past 3 years I have gained a whole new understanding of how amazing it really is.  Last year after Davis and I spontaneously bought a mini tree I was dying for the next year to decorate my own tree.  So this Fall I signed up and got accepted to decorate/donate a tree! I decided to do a smaller (4ft) one since the big ones are scary to do ha ha.  Plus the big ones are for more experienced people anyway. I got my acceptance in October and that's when the $$$$ gates opened! I totally went to Hobby Lobby and Quilted Bear like every day! It was so much fun!

The real fun of it all was the night of bidding.  Everyone gets way dressed up and you have two hours of roaming to decided which things you really want to try and get into a bidding war over. I was so nervous that no one would like my tree. Like I told mom the night of that if no one bid on it she would have too ha ha.  So Davis and I got there at like 5 and we knew the bidding for small trees ended by 7.  If you bid on something and wanted to make sure you got it you had to stand by it by 7:00 otherwise someone else could out bid you.  Another rule was who ever had their bid amount on the bidding card for a certain item had the chance to go into a silent bid against anyone else that had their bid on the card too- you just have to be present.  So of course I went sneakily over to my tree and watched to see if anyone was going to bid on it.  To my surprise there had already been two bids on it! The first one was by my mother in law, ha ha cute lady! Then the second was by this couple that looked pretty passionate about winning my tree. Like the wife was biting her nails and pacing around.... which made my day ha ha.  I mean heck of course I was going to be thrilled if someone wanted my tree that bad!  Then out of the blue this couple that was way way dressed up comes by my tree and the wife stops and turns to her husband to tell him to bid on it.  So he does.  I was dying in the background! A bidding war over my tree?! What the heck! The first couple sort of ran over to see what they bid and the wife started crying.  Like literally had red eyes and put her hand to her forehead and was shaking her head. So I'm like freakin in the background wondering how much the second couple bid.  So I sent Davis to do the dirty work.  Then I couldn't help myself so I caught up with him to see the amount. On the way I noticed the second couple were wearing badges that said "Executive Board" on them.  So wow um hello.  That's not intimidating at all.  Then I saw it... the amount... this number that made my whole night change.  The first couple bid $325 for it and the second couple raised the anty to $550!!!!!!!! I grabbed Davis arm and was digging his arms so hard he had to get away from me because I was hurting him.  We walked away trying not to seem obvious but I couldn't help myself. I totally started crying! Ha ha ha Davis hugged me and said "Babe its ok, its a good thing they bought it".  Cute husband.  I was crying tears of joy.  I was so worked up over the tree not getting chosen by anyone and to have two couples bidding against each other for it, let alone the executive board of the festival, was amazing! And I was shocked they were spending that much to have it! I was all worked up for like a half hour ha ha like hyper and giddy and happy all at the same time.  It's amazing how easily amused I am, sheesh!


So with all that talk here is the tree....

The front

 The sign which I loved.

 The Back

 

At the festival in it's spot! Row E. 

 The adorable "GRINCH" block letters

 This was the bidding night right after they bought my tree.  Yes I look haggard ha ha.. I was under a lot of stress OK. You really aren't supposed to stand by your tree either but I just couldn't help myself!

I can't wait for next year! I think I will decorate one again but then again I might not just cause it is almost more fun to save the money and put it towards buying something.  So maybe I will start doing an every other year type of deal. So fun!