Several weeks ago, our local artist, Lesley Kane, was commenting on how much her grandchildren enjoyed seeing a Christmas tree at the roundabout on Keswick Island in years gone by. We had a memorable evening down there around 2011, so we decided to launch a community project to add a new tree to the roundabout with solar lights to entertain old and young alike.

Firstly, Marian cleaned up the area removing dead plants and trimming the pandanus plants. Then she added pandanus fruit around the existing plants to make the area look greener. Meanwhile Lesley held a workshop at her Tiger Blue Den to make natural Christmas decorations out of hessian, ribbons, shells, wood, bark, sponge, coconut shells and string etc. They looked quite good in the end! We also dug out our old Christmas deccies like tinsel and shiny balls.

While we dithered on whether to make a driftwood tree (that we really should have collected wood for in the preceding weeks), Craig suggested using a dead she oak tree that had fallen over in his street. So we lobbed up to Eagle View Crescent for a quick look see. It was perfect really, so Craig promptly tied the tree up to the back of his buggy, (hand in post operative state & all), and pulled the tree out of the ground. Due to the extreme heat, we decided to meet back in a few hours to tow it down the hill to have a look at it in-situ. Once that happened, thanks to Craig, Brian & Darryl, we were going to decide what to trim off etc., but the men took control and tied it securely in place.That's it! All done ladies! 😉

Now that we knew we had a very large tree to decorate, Karen and Lesley made more terrific Christmas decorations for inclusion in the decorating party to be held on Saturday at 5.00pm. They even made some great looking Christmas puddings out of stuffed Coles liquor bags and wrapped buoys to hang and put around the bottom of the tree. (I think if one had legs, it would look like the Magic Pudding!)

The decorating and lighting of the tree went well, albeit in very hot and humid weather, with several ladders being loaned to make the job easier -- the best and tallest one being from KDPL. The tree looks distinctive and fits in well with the local decor! Many thanks to our local monkeys, Craig, Brian & Ron, who managed to climb to the top of the big ladders and get that tinsel over the top of the tree, and to everyone that pitched in to make it a fun gathering. Even little Toby who was visiting with Matt and Tess and granddad Steve. Special thanks go to Craig for flying to Mackay to buy the solar lights.

We all heaved a big sigh of relief when the sun set and the refreshing drinks came out to cool us all off! Then the lights came on and the spirit of Christmas came alive on Keswick Island once again. 🙂