My family does a service project every year for Christmas. Years ago, my aunts and uncles decided that instead of buying each other Christmas gifts, they would pool the money together to do something nice for someone else. This has been such a blessing for my cousins and I because it has given us an opportunity to serve others as a family. Some of my favorite Christmas memories stem from this tradition.
For a long time, we did what we called our "homeless service project," where we would fill bags with items for the homeless (blankets, gloves, hand warmers, food, card games, hats, etc). We would then take the bags downtown and give them out as a family. Afterwards, we would go back to my Uncle's office for pizza.
This last year, we decided to do something a little different. With the passing of some of our family, the Homeless Project just wouldn't be the same. We decided to make some trees for the Festival of the Trees.
We donated 2 trees this year, one in my grandmother's name and one in my uncle's name. We were able to put their trees next to each other, which was really neat.
My sister spearheaded the project and got it rolling. We got together as a family and decided on themes. The project took a life of it's own. I was a little worried about how the trees would turn out, because we were all doing pieces of it, and I wasn't sure how it would all come together. I thought they turned out great!
My uncle's tree was titled "The Good Life" and was Harley-Davidson themed. It turned out spectacular, and we even got to meet the people who bought it. Their reasoning for purchasing the tree was such a neat story, and I am sure they are the exact people my uncle would have wanted to buy his tree.
My sweet uncle with his granddaughter
"The Good Life"
The "Lucas" dog we just had to add to his tree. Lucas was my uncle's best friend.
My amazing grandma. She was such a remarkable woman.
My grandma's tree. It was titled "my favorite things" and was a Christmas sewing, cooking, quilting themed tree. Sewing, quilting, cooking, her family, and Christmas truly were her favorite things (along with gardening, but we would have struggled fitting that into the theme).
The pictures at the trees (my cousin Carrie drew these. She is so talented!).
There was something very emotionally difficult about making these trees, but it was also very healing for me. It was such a neat way to remember Grandma and Uncle David, and the money went to such a great cause.
On another note, we also went to the auction night. If you have never been on auction night, you should definitely go. You can buy tickets that are good for 2 people, and they last 3 years. You can then bid on trees and watch people bid on trees. I am ashamed to admit that some of my family stalked our trees and hovered a little bit as people bid on them. :) Hopefully we weren't too intimidating. Another plus of auction night- refreshments!
This was one of our favorite trees (besides ours, of course)!
You probably can't tell very well from the picture, but it was a half-BYU and half-U of U tree. It was perfect for Andrew and Jason (who are ALMOST twins, except in their local college preferences. A lady standing by the tree even asked if they were twins!). My favorite part of the tree was the box of tissues on the BYU side! 
Uncle Jim, Aunt Lisa, and Jenn at the tree lighting ceremony
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