The Festival of Trees
Last night, we made the trip to Sandy, UT to volunteer once again at the Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for Primary Children's Medical Center. We arrived for our shift very late, thanks to unbelievable traffic, but two and half hours of standing guard in front of a bunch of trees will make one just as tired as a full three-hour stint. We did this last year, too, and it was just as fun and just as rewarding this time around.
Today, we took Topher to see the sights, since we didn't see many of them ourselves last night. Both Drew and I spent a lot of time during our volunteering shifts observing all of the many hundreds of families wandering by - some parents were guiding excited, engaged children through the rows and rows of trees, others were dragging their kids - often literally, like by their elbows, across the floor - forcing them to acknowledge every last twinkling light that they paid five whole dollars to see. We learned a few lessons from our observations and knew going into it that there was no way we'd see every tree and that there was no way Topher would walk himself around the giant expo center the whole night. Apparently, though, we didn't learn all of the necessary lessons, like that the Sweet Shoppe and Concessions Stand would be the most intriguing parts of the show. Topher has an uncanny ability to fixate on snack food - which was abundant and particularly aromatic at the festival - that quite effectively distracted him from the lovely trees, even the purple ones - his favorites. In spite of the very prolonged conversations about candy and his desire to be carried, it was really fun to hang out with the little guy all night, just us and him. Next time, we'll select a less boring activity for the evening. Kids just aren't meant to be spectators, especially of inanimate objects, no matter how beautiful.
It was another great year at the Festival of Trees - actually, according to the Volunteer Coordinator, one of the best yet in monetary terms; well over a million buckaroos were raised for the kiddos that need them. We realized when filling out our exit surveys after volunteering that we had probably participated in the festivities for the last time, barring some unforeseen circumstance keeping us in Utah Valley next year. "Would you like to volunteer again next year?" Well, yes, but no. We plan to be too far from here this time next December to make the trip worth it. It was definitely worth it this year, though - both times.
Today, we took Topher to see the sights, since we didn't see many of them ourselves last night. Both Drew and I spent a lot of time during our volunteering shifts observing all of the many hundreds of families wandering by - some parents were guiding excited, engaged children through the rows and rows of trees, others were dragging their kids - often literally, like by their elbows, across the floor - forcing them to acknowledge every last twinkling light that they paid five whole dollars to see. We learned a few lessons from our observations and knew going into it that there was no way we'd see every tree and that there was no way Topher would walk himself around the giant expo center the whole night. Apparently, though, we didn't learn all of the necessary lessons, like that the Sweet Shoppe and Concessions Stand would be the most intriguing parts of the show. Topher has an uncanny ability to fixate on snack food - which was abundant and particularly aromatic at the festival - that quite effectively distracted him from the lovely trees, even the purple ones - his favorites. In spite of the very prolonged conversations about candy and his desire to be carried, it was really fun to hang out with the little guy all night, just us and him. Next time, we'll select a less boring activity for the evening. Kids just aren't meant to be spectators, especially of inanimate objects, no matter how beautiful.
It was another great year at the Festival of Trees - actually, according to the Volunteer Coordinator, one of the best yet in monetary terms; well over a million buckaroos were raised for the kiddos that need them. We realized when filling out our exit surveys after volunteering that we had probably participated in the festivities for the last time, barring some unforeseen circumstance keeping us in Utah Valley next year. "Would you like to volunteer again next year?" Well, yes, but no. We plan to be too far from here this time next December to make the trip worth it. It was definitely worth it this year, though - both times.
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