Front Porch Decoration

I seem to have paired down my outside decorating considerably.  This has been a wonderful December as far as the weather goes so there really isn't any excuse for me not to have done more than I have.  I've been waiting to snap a few pictures of our front porch until it snowed and made everything look like Christmas. It doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon so today is as good as any for posting.  I have a flood light directed at the porch so my Santa suit does show up nice, it just would have looked more festive if we had snow to cover the porch.

The Santa suit was a Christmas gift years ago from a coworker.  It has the beard, shoe covers and gloves to go with it.  It was hand made, meaning not commercially sold and was machine stitched maybe forty or fifty years ago.  It usually hangs inside on one of my doors in the entry way but this year it got moved outside.  The wooden coat hanger that the suit hangs from is from Herpolsheimers, which was one of two large department stores in Grand Rapids and if you are familiar with the movie Polar Express you may remember a reference to this store as the training passes by the store windows all decorated for Christmas.

 The stand that I have the suit hanging from is actually the weighted base of an old fan, I put a wooden dowel in it to bring it up to a proper height.  Because its so heavily weighted it really takes a pretty stiff wind to send it tumbling no matter what is hanging from it.

This old tin kettle was a gift from my friend Sharon a few years back.  I painted it black and stenciled the lettering on one side with "Believe" for Christmas and on the other side it has "Welcome" stenciled.  It sits on one of the porches or in the yard all year.  It looks like its able ready for a new coat of paint!

There is also a wicker grocery basket with a lighted gift box and a small tree in it to the right of the suit.  I have to keep a little room for people to come to the front door so this is really only visible at night when the package is glowing and the flood light shows off the basket.

Open House Thursday
WOW Us Wednesday
Feathered Nest Friday