festival of trees

matt surprised us all with a trip to the 'festival of trees' after thanksgiving dinner. apparently this is an annual even where local businesses and families decorate Christmas trees and wreaths and donate them to the show where they are sold to benefit the children's hospital.  the pictures don't really capture how beautiful the trees were all lit up.  and the picture to the right was just the overflow; there was a whole ballroom of trees that i didn't take a picture of for some reason.  there were easily over 100 trees and lots of other holiday decorations.

the kids were asking to have their picture taken in front of their 'favorite' trees, but they could  barely hold still long enough for a picture before seeing their next 'favorite'.  and there was just way too much to see to pause for pictures.

the kids were very cute in their search for "baby jesus" - and there were lots to see.  we thought that this one using teddy bears was the most unique.

the event was closing, but we stopped by to see santa before we left.  i think the santa was a little tired because he was a little frustrated that the kids wouldn't speak louder.  he wasn't rude or anything that the kids would have noticed, but i decided to step in and repeat their answers above a whisper.  madelyn said that she wanted a candy cane for Christmas and when santa kept pushing for her to say something else, she said that she wanted a guitar.  we could not believe that the girl who has reviewed every toy circular in the paper - multiple times - and marked every toy that is her "favorite" - and she has a lot of favorites - could not think of something to tell santa.  "guitar" was inspired from maddux' birthday present that all three kids like playing with and then we found one with princesses on it - so not totally random but not something i would consider to be in her top twenty.  mason was more predictable with a "race car".  the santa seemed disappointed that they didn't want more toys.  he kept asking "are you sure you don't want anything else?" until i decided that we had better be on our way.

did i mention that the event was free?  we will most definitely come back next year.  love.