Festival of Trees

While attending the Festival of Lights, I was fortunate enough to run into the Festival of Trees, which was being held inside the Riverside Convention Center. The event was open to the public and free.

Considering the fact that I didn’t know beforehand that the Festival of Trees was being held, this event came to me as a pleasant surprise. There were a lot of nicely decorated Christmas trees displayed inside a huge room. From what I understand, the trees were being competed against each other. Since I wasn’t given a voting slip, I opted out of voting. If I did vote, though, I probably would have voted for this tree of hope, simply because the messages throughout the tree resonated with me most.

I also liked how it wasn’t flashy and over the top, yet beautiful. But most important of all, I think I liked how it conveyed the true meaning of the holidays (or Christmas in general).

A lot of people seemed to like the Christmas in Paris theme and I can see why because “everyone” finds Paris romantic. And who wouldn’t love the idea of spending Christmas in Paris? (I’m sure a flight to Paris at this time of the year would be ridiculously high, so I can do without experiencing a Christmas in Paris! Plus, the place is so commercialized to outsiders as a couple’s only type of place.)

There were some trees that I didn’t care for. But in general, they were all very nice.

I suppose I now understand how expensive it can be to decorate a Christmas tree. It’s one thing to reuse ornaments and decor, but it’s a whole different story to decorate a tree drastically different every year. That’s a lot of time and effort, people.

Outside of the Riverside Convention Center, I ran into less complex Christmas trees that were also nice.

This small tree was found inside a craft type of store not far from the Mission Inn.

This tree was seen inside the Mission Inn’s gift shop.

So, what do you think of these trees? Did you see any you like?