Hi! Christ is born! Glorify Him!

This is information on my Brookfield Zoo Christmas Tree. It's really cool that the Zoo has this fund raiser! You pay the fee ($75 this year) and decorate to your hearts content. This year the decorating dates are November 20 & 21.
They do have restrictions on what you can put up as far as being safe for the wild animals (no food, no wires or sharp objects) but you can decorate for the Nativity in the traditional manner or you can decorate for secular Christmas so Churches or Scout Troops, etc. or individuals can decorate as they see fit.

I am decorating for the Nativity of our Lord and tieing it to God's promises, and to animals.

I am a member of the Brookfield Zoo, but you don't need to be in order to decorate a tree!

First, I wish to remind you that everything here is protected by copyright so this material is off limits to any "for profit" group or individual!

I have taken quotes from several places for my tree. (Some of the quotes used are on Orthodox Prayer for & with our Fellow Creatures.)

I have used:

Church Fathers
Literature
Liturgy
Saints
Scripture
Tradition

I use my word processor to apply them to the back of postcards. On the front I glue a photo of a pet or zoo animal. You can also use pictures from magazines if you like. The ornaments must then be laminated so they don't fall apart and litter the Zoo. (A word of warning: Do not use laminated decorations on a living outdoor tree. The laminatining will cut the needles off when blown around.) I am using recycled crochet string for hanging. The Zoo likes and encourages the use of recycled stuff.

I am using a rainbow patterned ribbon as garland. (The postcards have a rainbow motif as well.) My cousin, the garland expert, is going to arrange it for me. I first have to waterproof it and attach the ribbons into one really long garland.

I am going to set a statement at the front left of the tree. The ribbon will run from the base of this, around the tree, up to an Icon of the Nativity of Christ.

+ + +

My tree was located in the east mall (#146). It was a lot of fun doing this project and I encourage others to do this on their own. My cousin, her Goddaughter and a good friend of mine hung the garland and the ornaments and then went and had a hot chocolate! It was really rewarding to see people stop by and read the statement and check out the ornaments!

We got some press coverage in "The Evangelist", which is the newsletter for my parish - St. Luke the Evangelist.

Adopt an animal for a gift that keeps on giving! My Mom is a proud parent of Anastasia the Siberian Tiger. She was an anniversary gift and is a true gift of life in many ways. She is the distant cousin of the cats at home and is always remembered along with her wild sisters. There are so few Siberian and Amur Tigers left in the world that conservationists have had to combine the subgroups (neighbors geographically). Your contribution to the Conservation Fund will help to keep the "wild" in wild animals.

God bless you. Please pray for all of God's creation.

"All things are near to God." - a Russian Proverb