Christmas at the Depot tree winners

Christmas at the Depot is always a special time of year. Decorations are out, beautiful trees are on display, and the atmosphere is festive.

This year was no different. The Shafter Depot Museum held its annual Christmas event that included Christmas trees decorated by organizations, clubs and families, along the theme of The 1940s.

Residents perused the museum for several weekends, voting for their favorite tree. They also had an opportunity to greet Santa in their new caboose at the museum on one Saturday, along with entertainment by the Shafter Brass Band.

The theme highlighted the new caboose on display at the museum. Twelve trees were on display, with the winners here.

First place went to the Shafter Woman's Club, who had "Irving Berlin's White Christmas" as its theme. The ladies put on an elegant display with a white-flocked tree covered in ornaments of silver musical notes, snowflakes, crystals, a silver bead garland and homemade Christmas cards with 1940s-style pictures on the fronts of them. Each card was signed by one of the members of the Shafter Womans Club.

Second place went to the City of Shafter for their "It's a Wonderful Life" theme. Twinkling lights highlighted black and white photos of Shafter life. Featured local images meant to stir up feelings of Shafter pride.

The tree was covered with golden stars, glittering colorful ornaments, crocheted snowflakes and vintage inspired ornaments. Topping the tree was a velvet and red ribbon trimmed in gold holding a crown of cotton branches.

Added to the décor for the tree was the Shafter afghan from the Shafter Centennial celebration in 2013.

The Camacho family, making their debut in the contest, was awarded third place. They entered their tree with the theme of "Disney's Dumbo, 1941."

The tree captured the hearts and imaginations of the visitors with its many elements. The tree had a stuffed Dumbo at the top, and many different garlands cascading below of real strung popcorn, admit-one tickets in red and blue, and the red and white striped ribbons. There was a wooden toy circus train full of animals that had puffs coming from the smokestack.

There also were wooden ornaments with characters from the 1941 Disney classic.

The bottom of the tree sat in a sparkling red Christmas tree color that made the viewer think of the stand a circus master used to stand on.

While all of the trees were special, there was one tree that was pointed out by the Curator's Award, which is the tree that best embodies the spirit of the theme of 1940s.

The Maynard family's tree was titled "Vintage Christmas Memories." The tree was decorated with ornaments from Grandma Maynard's collection, along with glass balls covered in velvet ribbons and lace, glass birds, snowmen, angels, bells, and much more.

The display also included vintage red and silver spire topped the tree while underneath was filled with many Christmas goodies.