The Festival of Trees- and Memory Monday

I know- these are really old. I didn't realize I had this many un-bloggified (according to Brittany, English Majors are allowed to make up words) pictures.

On December 5th, We went to the Festival of Trees. I love the Festival of Trees. It is one of my very favorite things to do at Christmas time- even more so than seeing the lights at Temple Square. The spirit of love and service is almost as thick as the smell of handmade scones and cotton candy. Last year I had plans to make a tree myself- but we ended up not having enough funds to do it the way I wanted to. I hope to do one this next year- maybe one of the medium sized ones. . .

Emma slept most of the time, which was fine with us because she was being a GRINCH! She woke up very pleased to find herself in a winter wonderland with cotton candy.

This was our favorite tree. It was all made of wood and there were large marbles running down it. It was amazing- I think my Grandpa Wallace would have LOVED this. It had four different tracks for the marbles to go down, and there was a vaccuum at the bottom to suck them back up to the top. So fun!

Unfortunately, my camera died- so those are all the pictures I have.

The other siginifcant part of this day was a tree that was COVERED in Santa figurines. We were about 100 feet away from it when I told Ross about one of my 4th grade teachers named Mr. Johnson who had an extensive collection of Santa figurines that he would bring in to the school around Christmas time. He was a giant of a man- about 400 pounds- and he LOVED Santa. The power of giving and loving service was important to him and he modeled his life around that.

Mr. Johnson was an amazing teacher for many reasons. First of all- he was strict, but loving. I cried many times because of harsh criticism from him, but I was also very determined to make him proud. He was a gifted musician with a booming voice and he LOVED to share his talent with the students. Truth be told- he was too good a teacher for that area. West Valley- at least the part that we lived in- was pretty much the ghetto of Utah. I mean that too! Do you remember Mr. Mcgruff? He came to our school and taught us about gang colors and made sure we didn't ever wear a straight blue or red shirt. He also taught us that if we heard a car outside our house after 11:00pm, we should duck to the floor just in case there was a drive-by shooting underway. I remember 3 kids from my school getting hurt in such instances.

Anyway- Mr. Johnson did not live in West Valley. He commuted there because he knew that it was a school in need of good leadership and qualified teachers. He knew the power of a good education and the gift of music. He was wonderful.

As I was explaining this man to Ross and the impact that he had on me at such a young age, I notcied a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Santa- and I knew that this Santa tree was Mr. Johnson's. We asked one of the Festival volunteers to let us read the card that explained who donated the tree, and sure enough- it was donated by Monroe Elementary in West Valley, Utah in behalf of Dale Johnson who passed away a couple years ago from a heart attack. He left his entire collection to the school when he passed. The school decided to let his spirit of giving live on by donating it to a cause that would help many sick children. The card even challenged the person who bought the tree to donate it next year as well- thus creating a perpetuating service. Amazing man!