Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND -Have you ever wondered after Christmas if you could just leave the lights up year round, or the tree? Well Worland resident Phyllis Parker doesn't wonder, because she leaves her tree up year round as a main corner decoration to her entry room at her home on Airport Road.

She said the tree comes in two pieces and it was a chore to carry it upstairs every year. So in 2010 she left it up and her husband Gary said to just leave it up for good, and they have.

The tree is not decorated in the traditional red and green, or your usual ornaments. True to her Red Hat membership, her tree is full of reds and purples, but prior to joining the Red Hat Society in Washington, Phyllis loved purple.

"I love sparkling things, any bling, and if it's purple, I buy it," Parker said.

Gary and Phyllis Parker moved to Worland in 2008, after visiting in 2007. They moved to their home on Airport Road in 2009.

In addition to red and purple "bling" her fiber optic tree is decorated with what she calls her "little drunken ladies." The ornaments are part of a Hamilton House Collection of the characters called "Dolly Mamas." They each have some type of wine or martini glass in their hand and next to or some are even sitting in glasses.

When she saw them, she said, "They made me think of my Red Hats back home. They really like their wine."

The Dolly Mamas come in a package of three each month. She started this year with 21 and opened one package this year to add three more. She has two more packages so she will have a total of 30. She said she plans on adding the last six one at a time for the next six years. She said there are more in the collection, but since she was running out of room on her tree, she stopped getting them.

Each Dolly Mama has a saying on the larger drinking glass - some are funny - such as "stirring up trouble" or "laugh 'til you tinkle," and some are inspirational, including Phyllis' favorite, "We all get better with life."

The ornaments on the tree are accented with large red and purple ball ornaments that she purchased here in Worland and large purple leaf ornaments that she purchased in Washington.

The tree serves as a decoration year round, and does serve as their Christmas tree during the Christmas season with several presents already wrapped and under the tree when she was interviewed late last week. For Christmas she adds a stand-up saxophone playing Santa, a "Maxine" doll dressed in Santa attire and a snowman (with a purple scarf).

Phyllis said the tree has been up year round for the past five years and "it will stay there until I leave."