Merry Chrishtmash - hiccup! oops, i jush cut the lights...

I know it’s still early, but I am in the mood for Christmas. Today is the beginning of Festival of Trees (FOT) which raises money every year for my employer (healthcare org.). I have worked here almost five years and I have made 4 wreaths and volunteered at the event three times. I just returned from dropping off our wreath, which my friends and I made three weeks ago – before Halloween. I suppose we cheat a little because we display it in the Administration Office in front of the wall of windows under the guise of “advertising the event” but we know what we’re really after: Constructive Criticism.

See, this event is judged and the more input we get, the better we can make it. That’s right. I am not a competitive person, but my wreath beats your wreath any day, especially when it contains 600 white lights, all kinds of branches, seeded eucalyptus, winter berries, hydrangea blooms, 3 kinds of ribbon and a dozen bunches of grapes and comes with a basket of wine (the bottle is etched with the words “Festival of Trees 2005,”) wine glasses and assorted goodies.

Having just returned to my lonely office from the Radisson, where I left our lovely creation, I realize that being done 3 weeks in advance (with enough time to make any suggested changes) isn’t necessarily the way to go.

For instance, here I sit, very sober, while all of the other designers are listening to Christmas music, eating free cinnamon rolls and lunch and… yes, at 9 AM, they were well on their way through the several bottles of wine they will consume today while decorating! I AM MISSING OUT!

This is what being competitive has gotten me. Lonely and stone-cold sober on a sunny Thursday. Perhaps being guilty of DUI (Designing Under the Influence) would result in the greatest wreath ever created! Hey, it worked for all those papers in college – well, at least until the professor handed them back.