Loving Life at Luminaria

One more thing to note from 2017. In the fall, I happened to come across some info on Luminaria, Thanksgiving Point's Christmas event, on Facebook. While looking through it, I learned that it was possible to volunteer for the event. I thought that sounded interesting, so I submitted my contact info to learn more. It turned out that I could earn free tickets to the event after volunteering just four times. I knew that Mom and Dad were coming out for Christmas, so I decided early that it would be a good way that I could provide a meaningful gift for the whole family. So I signed up to volunteer for 9 shifts throughout the season so that I could earn the necessary tickets.

In early November, I was required to attend a volunteer orientation meeting. They gave us info on what to do and what the requirements were to earn benefits. We also got to go on a tour of the gardens to see how things were being set up. That was quite interesting, since it was after the gardens had officially closed. Many of the trees still had some pretty fall colors, which was awesome. Down near the Secret Garden, we also saw a visiting deer. Apparently, they like to go into the gardens to eat the tulip bulbs. Throughout the tour, we were able to see the progress the employees were making in setting up Luminaria. One of the coolest parts was that we were there for the first time they ran the big Merry Mosaic lights show because the programmer for it happened to be there working out logistics at the time. That was pretty exciting! I didn't go to Luminaria the previous year when it started because it was expensive, so it was fun getting my first taste of it.

After the orientation, I was looking forward to getting started in volunteering. Because I knew that Mom and Dad would arrive a week or so before Christmas, I wanted to stack as many of my shifts early in the season as possible. So on the first night of Luminaria, which was a preview night for Thanksgiving Point employees and their families, I signed up to volunteer. I felt a little weird about it, because it was the Friday before Thanksgiving and I generally prefer to keep all Christmas celebrations firmly after Thanksgiving. I got used to it over time, however, since I also volunteered that Saturday as well as the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

I wanted to volunteer on the preview night specifically because I thought it would be a good idea to get the hang of what to do before all these guest who don't know what's going on arrived. More or less, volunteering amounted to helping people find their way through the gardens, answering questions like where the bathroom was, and in a few areas, keeping some of the game pieces available neat. Offering to take pictures for families was another big element. It was pretty straight-forward, so I got the hang of it quickly.

Most of these cool gingerbread houses were created by a Fullmer, who is no doubt related to us.

All that first week, the weather was really quite warm. I wore my lighter coat as well as non-insulated boots and really felt perfectly comfortable throughout each 3-hour shift. I quickly learned that I particularly liked helping out in the Light of the World garden which features all the statues depicting Christ's life. They fill that space with hanging lanterns and play very peaceful religious music through that area, which definitely contrasted with the blaring secular music played in other areas. Still, each section had it's charms, and I worked all of them at some point during the following weeks.

One of my favorite parts was just getting to walk through the course at the end of my shifts. All the lights were very beautiful, and it was fun getting to take them all in when there weren't other people around either at the beginning of the early shift or at the end of the late shift. I thought that I would always prefer the opening shift because it would warmer and I could do other things later, but I found that the closing shift was actually better. Often, we'd get to leave earlier than scheduled for that shift because numbers had dropped enough. Also, I liked dealing with the big crowds at the beginning of my shift and then having them peter out over time. It was fun helping to make sure the paths were clear of people at the end of the night, and I also felt like I could offer some valuable help to the guests by warning them along the way of how much time was left before the lights got shut off at closing.

Though the first week was warm, the temperature dropped after Thanksgiving. I was volunteering 2 or 3 times a week through the season, and soon discovered that it can grow quite cold standing in one place for hours at a time. My feet were usually the first part to get cold on the more bitter nights, but my bum also was often cold for some reason. I learned that foot and hand warmers along with multiple dense layers on every section of my body was a good idea. Even so, on the coldest nights, dancing around to work up some heat under all the layers was necessary. It usually was fine unless the wind was strong in addition to the cold. Overall, the weather was much more mild than it might have been, so I was grateful for that.

Because I was volunteering more than twice what most other people were doing, I got to meet more of the other volunteers than pretty much anyone else. It was fun getting to know them a bit in addition to having the chance to interact with the guests. I had some interesting conversations with a few of them in the slower times or while we were waiting to head to our positions. I also had the chance to share some things about Christ and the church with a few of the guests who asked questions like what The First Vision section was about or why was Christ so important (that came from a Muslim guest). It was another big reason I liked working in the Light of the World section best even though it was notoriously the coldest part of Luminaria. Having some chances to give some degree of a testimony depending on the question was great!

By the time Mom and Dad arrived, I was finished with my scheduled volunteering. That was pretty bittersweet, because I really did enjoy getting to help there. While I wasn't doing anything groundbreaking generally, I did feel like I was providing a helpful service to the community and I enjoyed the atmosphere of doing it. I feel like it was a worthwhile thing to do, plus the fact that I was accumulating the means to share it with my family helped!

The family didn't have as many fond associations with it as I did, but I enjoyed showing them the different parts of the event. Molly especially didn't enjoy the cold, which marred her appreciation for everything else, but the other kids did pretty well with it and seemed to have fun with the activities and just seeing the different displays. It was a fun activity to do with the whole family at any rate. I hope that it was enjoyable for all of them as well.

Mom and Dad left before New Year, and the volunteer coordinator put out a cry for more help during the last few days of Luminaria that last week. Since I wasn't tied up with family any more, I decided to lend my services once more. It was nice getting that last opportunity to experience the event and to reflect on having spent quite a bit of time there over the last month and some. I really did enjoy getting to participate in Luminaria over the season and will definitely do it again in the future, though perhaps I will not work virtually every free night I have in the same way again!