Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fill This Space

This is the size of the space we need to fill - per tree

This weekend, Lucinda cleared out part of the front room and taped off a 9 feet by 7 feet area in the carpet. According to the Festival of Trees website, this is the size of the area we have to fill for each of the four trees we are doing. If you think about it, it can be kind of intimidating - that's a pretty big space. As you can see, the tree takes up only a smart part of it. So what on earth are we going to put in the rest of the space?

OK, calm down, Dow. We do have a few ideas.

And it's not like we have to fill every single square inch.

We can, and we probably will - eventually. That will be the fun part.




One of the things we are going to use to fill the space reserved for Vicki's tree is this beautiful brown afghan that Mom Webb made. When we first came up with the idea to do the trees for the Whittle Family, Mom right away decided that she wanted to do something special - something that she could add that was uniquely hers. It took her weeks to finish it but I know that she loved every stitch. We would come over to visit her at her house or she would come and visit us and she would always have it with her. She would proudly bring it out to show us her progress. First it was the size of a small wash cloth, then about the size of a scarf. By the time it was as big as a bath towel she had to carry it in a tote bag. Now it's big enough to fit on a queen sized bed. It's a labor of love that's almost too good to give away.



Trees are up at the Frederickson home
 And just to show that we aren't the only ones crazy enough to have Christmas trees up in the middle of October - let me show you this photo from my sister, Wendi's Facebook page. They are trying out ideas for Randy and Brittany's trees and I can't wait to see what they've got.



And speaking of Brittany - today would have been her 15th birthday. We miss her so much that it hurts. It's days like this - little milestones along the way - when we realize how much we have been blessed to have them be a part of our lives, and how much it still hurts to know that they are no longer with us.




Sunday, October 14, 2012

Merry HallowThanksMas!


Visitiors to our house are really confused.

Not only do we have two Christmas trees in our front room - one traditional green, the other flocked - but we also put up some Halloween decorations this evening. Not to mention, tonight we had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing for dinner.


It's like we've managed to shove three totally unrelated holidays into one fun-filled evening.

Yesterday, Lucinda and I went with Wendi and Evan and Mom over to Primary Children's Hospital for the Festival of Trees Decorator's Workshop. http://www.festivaloftreesutah.org/

We got to meet Francis Morgan, the chair over the large trees. We have been able to talk to her over the phone and by e-mail but this was our first face to face meeting. We also attended a power point presentation that offered some tips on how to decorate and strengthen the trees so that they don't break when they are delivered.

They told us that we have to secure a piece of rebar along the trunk of the trees as well as a long piece of PVC pipe inside the trunk to help prevent the trees from snapping in half. Now before they said this, having a tree snap in half has never been a concern of mine - now it has become my worst nightmare.

But instead of dwelling over the horrors of what could happen, we went shopping for decorations for the trees. I think Mom had a good time. It was the first time I had the chance to go shopping with her and with Wendi and Evan. It sounds like everyone is getting into it and there are some good ideas out there. Now we just need to put it all together.

In the meantime, we are getting our costumes ready for Halloween, while going through boxes of Christmas decorations. By the way, is there any white meat left?


Monday, October 1, 2012

The Fifth Tree

Emily scopes out the possibilities


It's October.

We've got less than 2 months to get ready for this.

We think we are off to a good start. We've got most of the materials we need for Vicki's tree and we are well on our way getting the stuff ready for MacLean's tree. Lucinda has been scouring the internet - looking at E-Bay and Amazon and several other sites to find the perfect ornaments and decorations. We've been to stores across the Salt Lake valley - Hobby Lobby, Tai-Pan, Taiwan Imports - my sister Wendi even went to Sprinkler World to look for stuff. She is working on Randy's and Brittany's trees. Lucinda and I recently went to Modern Display where we think we've found the two flocked trees we have been looking for.


It's the one in the middle (we'll need two of them)

And we think we've found the tree skirt we want for MacLean's tree.


It's silver - just perfect for the theme.

And just when we thought we were getting a handle on things, Emily says that she wants to do her own tree for Brittany.

OK, she's actually had this idea for a while. She has been having a hard time this past year - as we all have - and she still gets emotional when she thinks about missing Brittany. Lucinda and I think that by doing a little tree of her own, it will help Emily get through this. So it looks like she will get her wish. 

Yesterday she and I went on-line to register her "small tree" on the Festival of Trees website. She has a theme all picked out and knows exactly how she wants the tree to look.

So it looks like we will have a fifth tree.

I'm starting to get excited. Glen and Kay and their family is planning on coming in from Missouri to help us decorate the trees over the Thanksgiving holiday. Misti is flying in from South Carolina (or is it North?). That reminds me, we need to find a ticket for her to get out here. With Wendi, me and Mom, that means all of us will be together with our families (we're still hoping Parker can make it) to put all of this together.

Less than two weeks to go until the Decorator's Workshop put on by the Festival of Trees. Time is starting to move fast on us. It's time to get busy.