Before Christmas, my friend and I were downtown one evening and decided to go see the Christmas trees on display at the Four Seasons Hotel. The Festival of Trees is an annual fundraiser for the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. One tree caught my eye. It was called the Still Fabulous Tree. Still Fabulous is the name of the thrift shop jointly operated by the Auxiliaries to BC Children’s and BC Women’s Hospitals. Two volunteers had decorated the tree with doll clothes collected from the store. Fun to look at and great advertising for a store that is all about reuse and raises money for a wonderful cause.
But here’s why I was so struck. Many years ago, right before Christmas, I was one of several people let go from a local ad agency in Vancouver. We were all upset of course and the timing was rotten, but we made the best of the Christmas celebrations before we packed our desks. That year, each of us was to make our own Christmas decoration to hang on the tree in our lobby. I took an old pair of lacey pink underwear and turned them into a pink slip. Put it on a tiny doll hanger and hung it on the tree. I thought it was pretty hilarious. So did my friends at work. The bosses, not so much, but what could they do, fire me?
For all of you who may have received a pink slip before Christmas, hope you can hang on to your sense of humour.
P.S. Shopping at thrift stores is a great way to cut corners.
Thank you Spring for the compliment and the pink slip narrative. I have decorated many Christmas trees over the years, was getting a wee bored till I decided to also be creative and original. Helped with the creative juices and bringing back the joy of decorating a tree and loving it.
I don’t mind the silver trees as much as use to, because again…the let’s have fun and pleasure from brighting up my world, the world.