At the Festival of Trees, a person decorates a tree or other Christmas decoration, and displays it at the Festival. The Festival people auction the decorations and all proceeds go the the hospital. There are many trees dedicated to the memory of a loved one, or some are themed around an important event of a person's life. There are many unique and beautiful trees at this event. My tree is, welllll.....unique.
No such cherished memory for me, I simply like motorcycles so that's my theme.
Gathering some of the items needed for the tree.
I would cut these tires to be the 'branches' of the tree.
The 'trunk' is three abs pipes with some expando insulation between the two small pipes and the largest one. I hoped this would give the strength needed to hold up the tire/branches.
Three neighborhood cuties come over to offer some advice.
Finally the decoration day is here. On November 28, all trees must be put up before 7:00 pm. The doors open at 7am. We got to the South Town Expo center just after 7
Sunrise found us, (wife Beverly, son Fenton, and I) toting our supplies into the building.
I can't believe how much sssch...tuf we took.
Starting to put together the tree.
It's going together... I can't tell you how hard it was to put this Benelli on the tree. I wanted it for myself!
A salute to our riding brothers and sisters 'down under'......(get it? down under the tree...)
A huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this project!
And.....here it is my unique tree! We received numerous compliments and positive remarks about the tree and almost all of them were said with a straight face.........
Some more pics
It was a good experience, The huge Expo center is filled with beautiful trees, ginger bread houses, quilts, etc, etc. But more importantly it is filled with a giving spirit, and the true meaning of Christmas. This might be the most Christmasy Christmas I've ever had, but, there is no sense going overboard. I'm done. At least until next years Festival of Trees!
17 comments:
That looks great! And it looks like a lot of work. You must be 'tired'!
Amazing job Ken. I love it!
What a splendid and festive idea. Very creative!
Will - I'm a retired Christmas tree designer.
Jared - Thanks!
SonjaM - Thanks to you also! "Creative" was one of the comments we heard most often. :)
Ken,
Most Christmas in November makes me want to throw up. Mostly it's a mix of the excess. The decoration, the music, the circus of the whole situation makes me wonder about humanity. It's wonderful to see people that celebrate in truly generous fashions, which seems to be the real idea. Good for you.
Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
Brady - I think we are pretty close on our opinions about Christmas. This fundraiser for the childrens hospital has gotten me closer to what I feel Christmas should be than I have been in a long time. I believe I'll do it again next year. Thanks for reading.
Looks awesome. It's for a great cause too. Thanks
Bug Boys - Thanks, you should do one with a Beetle theme!
Very cool idea! I especially like the tinsel on the inside of the tire halves (thirds?). Our local FoT is this coming weekend. I think we might finally go check it out!
Beth
MrsCablebandit (ST.N)
Trees on wheels, good idea! ;-)...
Un saludo.
Beth - Thanks for dropping in; the bottom tires are a half, the tops are about a fourth... Plan on spendimg some time at the Fot. And plan on being dazzled! At least I was. :)
Freebird - Thanks! I'm curious if you have similiar events in Spain?
lol - that's an awesome tree!
Plus how fun playing with all those ornaments :)
Very Festive!
Dear Ken:
Seven members of the Mac-Pac, the premier BMW riding club in southeast Pennsylvania, were on a run out west recently, when each reported a section was cut from the front tire of their bikes, as they slept off a real humdinger of good night.
Now that we have that cleared up...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Fondest regards,
Jack/reep
Twisted Roads
bluekat - As I mentioned in the post giving up the Benelli was really hard! LOL... Thanks for reading!
Jack - Please pass on my deepest appreciation to the Mac-Pac elves! I thought I overheard one talking about naming the video of their western ride; "The half-way 'round".
Thanks for reading, I never get 'tired' of your comments and your blog stories!
Yes Ken, but not with trees... Here in Madrid we met a group of bikers and formed a cavalcade of gifts to give to children in hospitals and shelters ... see the children smile is the best gift for bikers! ;-)
Un saludo.
Freebird - "Well done" to you and your group! :)
Very cool tree! I love moto Christmas themed things.
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