FRANKLIN
At Edna Holloway’s yard, bringing all those inflatables to size doesn’t just happen overnight. She gets started even before school begins.

Holloway has to get those packages lined up to determine where she’s going to place them. Then there are supplies to have ready, such as hammers, nails and whatever other tool are needed. By Oct. 1, she really starts putting everything together. Everything was pretty much in place by the beginning of November.

The scene at 811 Walnut St., hasn’t always been this big and brilliant. After having moved to her home in 1988, she got started with what she called “just small stuff,” but progressively added on from year to year. For example, any of the decorations were made of plywood and painted with holiday scenes.

The snow globe was the first inflatable, which became so appealing to her that others eventually followed.

In case you were wondering, many of the inflatables were ordered online, but Holloway will also go to Lowe’s after Christmas when the sales are active.

In addition to the larger-than-life images of Mickey Mouse, Rudolph or Santa, there’s plenty of multi-colored lights.

“I love looking at the lights, too,” said Holloway, 77. “I enjoy people coming by [to see them]. She’s even added more this year, in case you were wondering.

Safety is important to her and she takes precautions that people won’t trip over cables or wires.

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Originally from Como, North Carolina, Holloway was a farmer’s daughter, and she had two siblings; one brother is deceased.

Christmas for her was never as elaborate as now. There weren’t lights for a tree. Instead, the family would make their own ornaments out of colored construction paper and other stuff.

After marrying, she and and husband had three children of their own; four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren have since been added to the family.

“They come by most definitely to see the lights,” Holloway said about her offspring.

After 33 years at Union Camp, she retired as a quality assurance paper tester, and then went on to work for a short while as a bookkeeper at Southampton Motor Inc.

Holloway is a member and church mother at Destined for Glory Ministries, where the Rev. Dr. Glyn Lawson is the pastor.

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What goes up most come down, and Holloway gets started the day after Christmas. She estimates it takes a week to pull everything down and put back in storage, where she has an inventory of back-up inflatables, lights and other decorations as the need arises.

To date, there’ve been no complaints about the decorations; she doesn’t run the lights all night, for example.

In the meantime, the scene is available for viewing through Christmas Day.