"Judges First Choice" Ribbon

“When I See a Star, I Dream”

Glitzy Glass, decorated and donated for the Down Syndrome Organization, Annual Festival Tree of Lights . .

A night of Glitz and Glamour, we had waited for since July, and it was everything we hoped for. The overwhelming feeling I had was of gratitude for the generosity people have. People donated so much money to benefit the Down Syndrome Foundation. The money is used for therapy of all kinds to help the children develop skills. There were so many people who put so many hours into the prep work. We put in several hours for the tree, but our work was fun. When the Benefit began we were all able to view the 30 some trees. The trees were beautiful! Some of the themes of the other trees were;

“Diva” which included paraphernalia of Marylyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Madonna . .

“Games” included lots of family games, even a ping pong table

“Pink Tree” this tree had purses as ornaments, and ____

“Pampered Chef Tree” of course everything you could think of cooking wise

“Wine Tree” lots of wine stuff

“Cooking Tree” Pots pans and trinkets

“Spa Tree” tons of gift certificates for spa services (ooohh uhhh)

The guy who was auctioning had helped do many fundraisers, even for Bill Clinton . . . Very funny. They warned us as the time got closer to the end, 15 minutes, 10, 5 and no more bidding.

The couples bidding on our tree were so so excited that they were able to get it. They told us more than 5 times how happy they were! There was a couple who arrived late and was so upset that they didn’t get our tree. It was fun to hear them talk about that (I relished). I was also able to donate a gift basket with five pendants, and a few chains, snowflake, star, it was fun.

FOOD TIME! We all went into the next room with the beautiful Chandeliers, tables all set beautifully and the food was AMAZING. They had a chicken and beef all dolled up, and potatoes that were amazing. The potatoes were sliced really think, compacted and cut into a triangle, then broiled. I want to make them for Thanksgiving!

For my favorite part of the meal the servers all lined up and brought out our desert. SO good!

After dinner the live auction started. There were three trees being auctioned, and boy was it for the elite. One of those trees had several paintings, a hand-carved rocking horse, hand-carved chair, air flight tickets to anywhere, really cool tree! The auctioneer even let 2 of the boys who had Down Syndrome auction off a book for a few hundred dollars each.

My sister Julia, her husband, and her little girl Brooklyn spoke before desert. She was emotional, it was great! My mom and sister can’t speak without crying. I on the other-hand don’t cry!

To sum it up—it was so wonderful. We enjoyed everything, every moment. And, Julia (so nice) let me take home the ribbon—so kind!

Under our tree (came with the tree as they bid)

For The Festival Tree Of Lights

Under our tree (came with the tree as they bid)
For The Festival Tree Of Lights
$200 Top of the World Restaurant at the Stratosphere
Night at the 5 Star Wynn Las Vegas hotel
Telescope
Treadmill "track Star" donated by Icon Health and Fitness
Van Gough's Starry Night painting very large! Donated by Prince Galleries
Purse donated by JustBe online, Suzie Bates
Star, Diamond pendant donated by S.E. Needham Jewelers
Books about stargazing and being a star
Starburst

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