Festival of Trees setup day

I stayed up late last night finalizing details for the Festival of Trees entry. I was hoping to get to the Trolley Museum in Scranton when the doors opened, but I must have been dreaming. At around 10:30, I finally had the car loaded.

The bottom half of the tree (wrapped in the blue comforter) fit perfectly in the back of my Jeep Patriot. The top half had to be tilted and rested on the blue tub holding my supplies, the tree skirt and other decorations.

Unloading at the museum was easy and I was allowed to pick my own spot. Some trees were already set up and several of the empty spots were already taken.

The unwrapped tree halves looked a little road weary, but there was no serious damage because all the ornaments are attached to their branches by wire. There was a lot of rattling and clanking on the 40-mile journey, but I only had to make a couple of minor repairs. Oddly, two tiny fish had broken off their ornaments. Three ornaments had come loose from their branches, but they were not broken.

After about three hours of primping and fine-tuning, the tree was finished. Don’t I look happy? I’ve only been looking forward to this moment for a year.

The museum staff even turned the lights on for us to be sure everything was hooked up properly.

I was exhausted and hungry, and went for some lunch at the mall. I also stopped in at JC Penney, where I found five new ornaments at a huge discount.

Today was a good day. On the drive up and back I listened to Handel’s Messiah all the way, and sang along at the top of lungs with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Next year I'm doing a bigger tree.