A few years ago, my mom and I started another tradition and that was to attend the Methuen Festival of Trees. This event is definitely up my mom's alley. My husband always says that when he thinks of Christmas now, he thinks of me and he said that I made Christmas for our family. I feel the same way about my mom. She has always made this time of year truly magical and just wonderful.

The Festival of Trees has been another piece to our Christmas pie. We also started taking Diana from the first year she was born. She was in the infant seat in the stroller...wide-eyed...staring at all of the beautiful lights.

Last night, she was not so quiet...didn't go over well that we couldn't just pluck Strawberry Shortcake of a tree and take her home...oh B O Y

Anyway...I always have a few favorite trees that I remember each year. The one that always sticks out in my mind, however, was the Sesame Street Tree that used Big Bird's legs as the trunk..it was the most creative thing I had ever seen and I remember saying, "if I had a child, I would love to bring home this tree for him/her." (Wish I got a picture but I wasn't a picture freak five years ago, the way I am now)

Here are a couple of pretty trees I captured last night. Maybe I will win won! You purchase sheets of raffle tickets and put them in the jar at the trees you would like to win....some you want to win because they are so beautiful and you want to just bring them home! Others you want to win because they come with great prizes like beautiful gift baskets...restaurant gift cards or tickets to sporting events!

The Pinkalicious Tree...my dream...ha ha!

the Purple Tree that all 3 of my girls would LOVE

The History of the Festival of Trees

In 1994, volunteers raising funds for the restoration of the Tenney Gate House conceived of the idea of holding a Christmas fundraiser featuring fully decorated Christmas trees, to help pay for the expensive restoration and preservation costs associated with this project.
The Gate House was an 1830’s farmhouse that was purchased by industrialist Charles H. Tenney in 1883. Tenney purchased the Whittier farmhouse and 75 acres behind it to build a palatial summer home. During the construction of his grand chateau, Charles Tenney lived in the Gate House and made improvements and architectural changes to the House for the comfort of his family. After completion of his chateau in 1891, Mr. Tenney made this charming house the gate house for his new home, Greycourt.
The volunteers who were part of the Tenney Gate House Restoration Committee were successful in saving the Gate House from destruction. The tree festival they started in 1994 showcased 18 trees and raised a modest $3,100.00. The Festival of Trees is now at capacity displaying 231 trees in 2010. The success of The Festival of Trees raised the necessary funding for the restoration of the Gate House and today provides grants to historic preservation projects throughout the Merrimack Valley.
Now in its 18th year, The Festival of Trees is the largest such Festival of Trees in New England and one of the largest in the country. Over 27,000 people from over 398 cities and towns in Massachusetts 16 and numerous states visited the annual event.
Trees from the Festival of Trees have graced the cover of the Boston Globe Magazine; have been featured in Northshore Magazine, Merrimack Valley Magazine, The Boston Globe and many additional newspapers and other media outlets throughout the state. In addition, the Festival has been featured on the Boston’s Channel 5 Chronicle show as well as Boston television stations 4 and 7, New England Cable News (NECN) and New Hampshire Channel 9.