FESTIVAL OF TREES - BOISE, IDAHO

 
The Festival of Trees in Boise, Idaho is in it's 33rd year. The event is sponsored by the Saint Alphonsus Foundation. I had the good fortune to attend this wonderful event last week.  Talk about getting you into the Christmas spirit - boy what a fun event.  Each year there is a beneficiary of the proceeds and for 2016 it is the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or NICU.  The NICU is very near and dear to the hearts of our family because we have twin grand-babies who spent the first several weeks of their premature lives in the NICU at Poudre Valley Hospital in Ft. Collins, CO. It is not only the preemies who need the NICU, one in ten babies born will need care in a NICU.  One of my favorite things (besides all the creative and beautiful trees, wreaths and other decorative items) was a group named "The Prime Time Swingers," a wonderful band with interesting musical instruments. Did I mention that this is a group of senior citizens - they make some awesome music with their eclectic instruments and a very good singer.

 They were just so much fun!

I will start off with what I found to be the most interesting tree, the wine tree!

I am going to share several of the trees as I thought they might offer some inspiration to you viewers.  This is just a sampling of the beautiful trees at the festival.

I do have to comment on these three photos of the award winning (first place in their division) Harry Potter tree. This years entry from St. Joe's Catholic School in Boise.  My dear DIL, Dawn, chaired the committee for this tree and she and her committee and the children at St. Joe's worked so hard to put this tree together.  They were thrilled with their first place!

This beautiful tree was up for raffle and I bought some tickets - I am hoping to win (fingers crossed) so I could donate to my neighborhood fire house.

Don't  you think these are wonderful?  I am filled with insperation and ideas for Christmas decorating.

Thank you for stopping by.