Although Halloween is actually Betty Jo Weland's favorite holiday, decorating for the magical season of Christmas also brings her a lot of joy. This year, she's gone all out – out of the box that is, thinking about how she could, for the first year ever, decorate her front yard.
"I have always lived in huge two-story houses my whole life. But now, living in a ranch style house, it's all new to be. Being able to whip a ladder out being able to hang all the lights myself was so much fun."
One thing she knew she wanted in her display was huge ornaments.
"I have always loved them, but they can be super super expensive," admitted Weland. "I mean hundreds (upwards of $400 for a set of three), so I got to thinking how I could make them for cheaper."
Then she came up with the idea of using kids' hopper balls – the big rubber balls that have a handle on top that kids hold on to and jump up and down. Each ball costs only $12. She added to that a plastic bowl (as the top of the bulb attacher), a can of spray paint and hot glue and viola – large lawn Christmas ornaments. When she began her search for the hoppers, she quickly discovered that they come in an amazing array of colors and patterns. For this year, she chose traditional green and red to match the peppermint candy garland that hangs around her front door – which she also made, by the way. She made that out of styrofoam disks that she bought at Dollar Tree (two disks for $1) and cellophane she already had at home. Red and green markers added to that and the garland was complete.
When she saw the delivery truck pull up in the yard with her hopper balls, Weland admits that she felt like a kid at Christmas. She took them immediately to the garage (which her husband refers to lovingly as Santa's Workshop), and a few hours later she emerged with 10 lawn ornaments and a huge smile on her face.
"My husband (Mike) tells me all the time my brain doesn't work the same as others," Weland said light-heartedly. To me, I think it's normal, but I Have been told for years and years it's not, which is actually a huge compliment to me."
In other words, she explains it like this – when other people see a kid bouncing around on a huge toy, she sees huge Christmas bulbs for outside her house.
"This year has started a whole new obsession for me in the Christmas decorations. I have already thought about moving more Christmas decorating to my huge back yard next year," admitted Weland. "Thank God my husband allows me to dream and do what I love the most, decorating, kids (she does in-home daycare), and making people smile." "I just hope I can put a smile on some kids' faces as well in our community as I have so many buses at my house daily picking up and dropping off kids."
Weland is a crafty person and has created many imaginative masterpieces over the years, but she said the large ornaments might actually be her favorite idea she came up with "THIS year."
Weland is more than pleased with the large lawn ornaments. The best part is that after Christmas you just pull the plug out and they store easily.
"It's always fun when I come up with an idea. And when you are done with it and it turns out just like you imagined, then there's excitement to show friends, family,and Facebook world," said Weland. "Doing it on the cheap makes it even more exciting."
She admits she loves to post her projects on Facebook, but not for compliments or attention, but rather to just make life fun – for her, her family, her daycare kids, and anybody who looks at it.
Another project Weland put together this Christmas season after finding inspiration at the Dollar Store is an Advent calendar for her two grandchildren.
"Let me tell you it was so much fun…I think this might start a new tradition for us," she said.
It all began when she ran across these small cardboard houses (that you had to fold together after you took them out of the package) with stickers that you can choose to put on for the 24 days leading up to Christmas morning. At the time, she wasn't sure what she was going to do with them, but just knew she had to have them. Of course, not long after, inspiration struck. An Advent calendar for her grands. After checking with her son, Logan, and his wife, McKristie, getting the okay, she went to work putting them together. She noted that they weren't the easiest thing to assemble, but it was worth it.
"My mind went wild. I knew I needed to have a small trinket that would fit in the 1.5" x 2" houses and I also decided to put a $1 bill in each house. On the last day I put a $2 bill in their house so at the end they can each have $25 in their bank and fun trinkets to play with," she said.
Laramie got mini superheros and Madelynn got small food items and animals that she can play with in her doll house.
She also bought them each a wooden house piggy bank that she painted to look just like her house, or "grammy Jo's and Mike's house" as she referred to it. She then placed them in the middle of the train tracks because they have to cross the tracks to get to their house.
"And also because Mike is an engineer on the railroad so it has double meaning," she said.
She delivered them to her grandchildren's home on Nov. 30 so they could wake up on Dec. 1 and start enjoying their surprises.
"They were super excited about them, and McKristie was super excited because they now jump out of bed each morning to see what their neat box holds. So I call that a win/win situation," Weland said happily. "It has brought me so much joy thinking about their excitement and hoping I could make this a new tradition for them. This is what fond memories are made of."
Weland has also posted this project on Facebook, partially because it helps keep the memory alive when it reappears each year. While we all know there is plenty of negativity that floods social media, Weland is hoping things like this will change that by putting out positive, happy things on her own page.
"I love our town of Eagle Grove. That's why I have never left in my 47 years. I just want people to think outside the box and go for what they want in life," said Weland. "I have plenty of things that didn't turn out the way I wanted them to but so what, just tweak your idea and go with the flow. Always remember, one of my favorite quotes from Bob Ross, 'We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.' People who are creative notice our own mistakes but nobody else will."
