Oh La La Tree, oh La La Tree. How lovely are your branches.
There was a particularly special submission to the A La Ronde Christmas Tree Festival this year and it came from us!
Back in the summer when A La Ronde asked La La to sing at the opening of their Christmas Tree Festival, they also asked if we’d like to submit a tree this year for the display. I didn’t think about it much at the time but as the deadline grew near I had an idea.
Now my chap is a genius with his hands. Get your mind out of the gutter! He is brill with DIY and as he used to build log cabins you can understand where he learnt such skills. He now does the CAD drawings and office work for the same company so has an eye for the design specifics too. He is used to my random thoughts and actions so when I sent him this asking if it was possible, he didn’t blink an eye
He returned with an affirmative and these
I couldn’t believe one of my crazy schemes could become a reality so we began working on it the following week. Here is the story in pictures.
Whilst the building and decorating work was going on, La La members were asked to provide Christmas baubles that broadly fell in to the theme of La La, Choirs and Music. The response was amazing. There are so many imaginative, creative and talented people in the choir. One of the Plymouth La La’s even made a Christmas Angel to top the tree. And guess who it was? Me! Three stone lighter, two years ago but a photo of me that she had painted and added a wand to.
On Saturday 30th November, the day before our performance and after much hard work, The La La Tree was positioned, pride of place, at A La Ronde. We secured her into position and with our children spent the afternoon trimming the tree.
Sunday 31st December dawned. It was cold but a bright sun shone across the estuary. It was a promising start to a lovely day. I went along early to check everything was in place so as not to disappoint the 120 members when they came to perform round the tree later that morning. My wand had fallen off but everything else was intact. I went home to change.
The La La’s started arriving early just so they could see what I had been making all the fuss about. I hadn’t revealed the design to anyone. No one had seen what it would be like. Dean, myself and little Eve were greeted with big smiles and congratulations. It was beautiful and everyone loves it. We sang with great gusto that morning. Lots of photographs of us assembled round the tree were taken and the visitors have very much enjoyed our contribution.
La La Tree is now home and safe. She is on display outside my house for the world to see. We are all so proud of her. She was made and decorated with La La love. She will be our tree for every year and I very much look forward to seeing the new baubles that join the old as each Christmas comes along.
Special thanks to Dean Kennedy and North Coast Log Cabins for the work, materials and support they gave.
