Christ­mas music should only be played after Thanks­giv­ing. The only excep­tion that I make to this rule is for the Fan­tasy of Trees to ben­e­fit East Ten­nessee Children’s Hos­pi­tal (ETCH), which begins two days before Thanks­giv­ing and runs through the week­end. Fan­tasy of Trees has been a Thanks­giv­ing tra­di­tion for me since I worked at ETCH in 2000. All pro­ceeds from this year’s show will pur­chase var­i­ous equip­ment for the hospital’s inpa­tient floors. More details and ticket infor­ma­tion can be found here.

The Gala Pre­view Party opened the event on Tues­day night and is always one of my favorite hol­i­day events. Noth­ing else gets me ready for the Sea­son like being sur­rounded by loads of hol­i­day décor, good food, and old friends. This year’s theme of, “No Busi­ness Like Snow Busi­ness” cre­ated a cute win­ter back­drop for all of the designer items, children’s activ­i­ties and shops. As always, many trees, wreaths and cen­ter­pieces are gor­geous, cre­ative and whim­si­cal. Yet, many are quirky, over­done and, frankly, hideous. If you stop by the show this week­end, do not miss my favorite attrac­tion, the Gin­ger­bread Village.

What other Knoxville Thanks­giv­ing tra­di­tions are out there?

For full dis­clo­sure, my first grown-up job was in Com­mu­nity Rela­tions depart­ment at ETCH and I still work as a PRN employee.

Creative Commons License Pho­tog­ra­phy by kris­de­cur­tis