Festival of Trees Showcases Decorating Possibilities

Lou Ann Good
Food and Family
Features Editor

LEBANON, Pa. — Want ideas for decorating  your Christmas tree?
From simple to elegant, the Festival of Trees at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center recently featured a week-long display of possibilities.

The locally-grown trees were decorated by community organizations and commercial businesses. The categories included festive, fun and holiday spirit; unique; reflective of childlike wonder; and showcasing Lebanon County or extension programming.

Sure, glass bulbs, golden harps and expensive ornmaments result in a stunningly decorated tree, but for those with limited budgets, the tree display offered numerous ideas that cost nothing or little to duplicate.

Several organizations incorporated dried materials gathered from the woods, gardens and field such as  dried berries, pods, ornamental grasses, yarrow, twigs, pinecones and similar materials. Master Gardeners and the Women's Health Center of Lebanon were two of the organizations that used dried materials.

The Master Gardeners also added dried apple and orange slices and strings of cranberries and popcorn among the materials.

Sandy Hall, Lebanon County Extension educator, decorated a tree with her family. She used materials that many people grow in their flower beds — dried hydrangeas and money plant. That was all, but the muted dried blooms and silvery money plant  petals interspersed among the branches resulted in a gorgeous-appearing tree.

Another idea for incorporating the talents of family members can be as simple as Japanese paper folding or origami. Directions for this fascinating art can be found in library books or by Googling the Internet. The Domestic Violence Intervention organization used shades of purples in the tree they decorated with Japanese origami.

Not surprisingly, the Lebanon Quilters' Guild incorporated fabric, bobbins, buttons and thread in their decorated tree. Members of Strong Women, an exercise group, formed sheep from unprocessed wool. Another tree decorated by a different group of Strong Women used melba rounds, raisins and other food to hang from branches.

Several children's organizations provided cut-out ornaments and other simple designs.

Photos of dogs, cats and children present another idea for decorating the branches. Garlands of candy and hanging candy canes and Lifesavers from branches were also found among the branches. Other ideas for garlands included those strung with pretzels and cookie cutouts.

Christenna's Designs prepared two trees. One featured a few of her favorite things such as baskets filled with bears and holly, berries and hand-crafted birdhouses artfully arranged.

Christenna's other tree resulted in a Victorian-era design featuring dried roses, pearls, beads, glass balls and silk flowers in shades of rose and ivory.

If you can't sew, you aren't crafty and you don't want to gather outdoor dried materials — don't despair. Jubilee Ministries decorated a tree showing what all can be found in their store that sells used items at nominal prices. A snowman topped the tree formed from full-sized clothing such as a sweater, scarf, gloves and mittens. Also, stuck among the branches were books, toys, shoes and other household items, which surprisingly resulted in an attention grabbing tree.

Visitors stopped to view the Festival of Trees throughout the week. Many expressed amazement at the variety of  ideas and were convinced, it doesn't require money to decorate a tree. With a bit of ingenuity; most anyone can decorate a tree to reflect their interests and personaliy.