Valle Monte League’s 50th Annual Christmas Tree Elegance

For the past fourteen years, Diana and the team at Stems have decorated a tree for the Valle Monte League’s annual holiday fundraiser. The fundraiser? A charity gala and brunches to raise money for mental health programs in Silicon Valley. This year the gala is being held at the San Jose Women’s Club, and Diana pulled out all the stops! 

Firstly, the tree. A good tree is an essential base for Christmas decor, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. “The tree that I picked had holes in it,” Diana laughed. “The gentleman selling the tree told the men who delivered it that it wouldn’t sell because it has holes in it, but that’s the one I wanted. He laughed and said, ‘I should have known you would want it! It’s the one with imperfections’. But that makes it art!”

The tree had several gaping holes in it where branches had been broken off in transit. Despite this, Diana bought the tree and set about planning her next step.

“Every time I see a tree, I get creative. I had the man selling the tree cut the bottom off of the trunk and used the extra greenery to make wreaths to set in the tree, to hide the holes in the branches, and I set the big lanterns in other holes to mask it. You have to get creative!” 

The theme for this year’s show is A Roaring ‘20s Christmas, so we have decided to call our tree Bubble and Giggles. Diana chose pink accents for the tree, filling the greenery with pink Silver Dollar Eucalyptus branches: a close color to champagne. She used white lights and gold picks to bring out the pinks and greens, cascading the lights from branch to branch in a stream of light and gold and green and pink. The effect is stunning: a tree dressed like a flapper at a Christmas party, bright and pretty and delightful. Golden lanterns and candlesticks and gorgeously wrapped boxes add touches of whimsy to the tree, so that the overall look is both elegant and intimate. And so once again we see the beauty in imperfection.