Festival of Trees

HARLINGEN — It’s a Big Bend Christmas.

That’s what Vanessa and Luis Hinojosa and their daughter Rita are creating at the Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum for the Christmas Tree Extravaganza.

“We are going to create the Chisos Mountain Range out of paper and used furniture,” said Vanessa.

The rattling sounds of newspaper and brown butcher paper filled the room where several other people and organizations had already set up Christmas trees. They’d begun setting up trees at either end of the museum on Tuesday as part of the extravaganza.

The Harlingen High School South Swimming and Diving Team had erected a tree covered in white and decorations with such quips as “Swim Swam Swum.” The Junior League of Harlingen had wrapped a tree with green garlands and mini lights. Alma Palacios had decorated a tree with buttons and other found objects.

“The trees that are up, they look good,” said Stephanie Miller, museum coordinator.

About 10 trees had already appeared in the museum, and she believed more would soon arrive.

“Right now we have 37 registrations that have actually been turned in,” she said. “There are others that have picked them up that have not turned them back in yet, so I think we’re gonna be pretty full this year.”

Palacios said she spent about 1 1/2 months working on her tree.

“This lady across the street from my sister’s house was throwing her tree away,” said Palacios, owner of Alma’s Treasures at 806 E. Tyler Ave.

“I asked if I could have it and I just started putting it together,” said Palacios. “It’s all recycled buttons and pins and show curtain hooks, refrigerator magnets. I just try to put a little bit of Christmas and a little bit of everything that’s going on.”

Her tree even wears stockings.

“This man told me it looked like it was getting ready to run away,” she said with a laugh.

The tree decorated by the swim team from Harlingen South had a pair of flippers along with other decorations. The swimmers brought in their tree on Tuesday just like Palacios.

The excitement of the season appeared to have fused itself into the kids and they’d passed on that zest to the tree with all sorts of decorations and messages.

“Diving into the holiday,” read one message on a wavy piece of paper.

A ball decoration bore the message “Chlorine is my perfume.”

Swimmer Trevor Anderson, 16, was especially jazzed about one particular decoration. They’d made a pun from a popular Christmas song.

“We made a sign and it said, ‘The weather outside is frightful/the fire inside is delightful,’ but the word ‘fire’ is crossed out and replaced with ‘pool’ so it says the pool is so delightful,” he said.

He and his teammates began making decorations for the tree at a Halloween party.

“I think it was mainly the thing that brought our team closer and allowed us to work on our craftsmanship and teamwork,” said Trevor, a junior.

The project is helping create more awareness, said Erick Velarde, 16.

“We are bringing swimming into the community and making it more known,” Erick said. “We made it a swimming theme.”

Meanwhile, the Hinojosas were busy moving a little piece of Big Bend National Park into the museum. Their daughter Rita, 9, was excited about becoming a “junior ranger” last summer. She’d been offered the opportunity to earn that title after spotting two black bear cubs and a mother bear during a visit to the popular West Texas park.

“It makes me feel good about wildlife,” said Rita.

So fond is the entire family about Big Bend that their tree is actually an ocotillo, a popular desert plant with long spiny whip-like branches angling up from a single base and bearing tiny red blooms.

They’d just created one from pipe cleaners and wire fencing, and it would soon wear the clothing of Christmas. For the Hinojosas, Big Bend seems like a year-round Christmas.

“We have been there twice,” said Vanessa Hinojosa. “We really love all the plants.”