I admit that I’m a serious grouch sometimes and the holiday season really brings out the ‘bah humbug’ in me.  I have my reasons for my seasonal crotchetiness that I won’t go into here but generally speaking, I don’t find much sanity in this time of year so why should I be randomly holly and jolly just because everyone demands it?  So, let’s just say that I’m awfully selective when it comes to what I’m willing to participate in at this time of year!

One of the few things I look forward to during the holiday insanity season is the Festival of Trees.  When I was a kid, this was just another event to perform obnoxious Christmas carols at and I only vaguely remember looking at trees.  Of course, in those days, the event was held in downtown hotels or in one of the city’s hospitals, I think.  Since I’ve moved back to Saskatoon though and started going as an adult, the festival has been held at the Western Development Museum.  I love this museum as it is but ‘Boomtown’ really is the perfect backdrop for all these lovely decorations.

I went to the festival this afternoon with my folks but decided to grab my DSLR in the hopes that a larger flash and camera might give me some better quality shots.  How wrong I was!  (I know what I should have done but as this is a busy event and there are always a lot of people and a lot of little kiddies running aroud, I really didn’t want to haul out any equipment or try to get into any fancy settings so I just stuck with auto settings.  Yeah, I know – silly me!)  But I hope you enjoy what you see and are possibly even compelled to get down there to see the trees for yourself since the festival runs this year until Saturday November 29th!

Here are some of the trees, wreathes, and other decorations in Boomtown:

Next up was Gingerbread Lane which was again tucked in by the cars the museum has.  I definitely have some yummy ideas for my gingerbread house this year!

Every year, there’s a challenge put out to make decorations out of recycled materials.  Oddly enough, even though I rarely see anything new and it’s usually young kids doing this, I tend to really enjoy this section of the festival and not just because of the environmental aspect.  We really are a wasteful society and honestly, the stuff you make yourself if far more meaningful than the cheap garbage you by from your nearest discount store!  There were a few surprises in this year’s recycled decorations though in terms of both materials and meaning.

Already looking forward to next year!