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A set of Easter decorations are spread on a table. There is a porcelain bunny, cups holding glass decorative eggs, and porcelain plates on the table. — At a birthday luncheon in mid-April, a drawer pulled out of a cabinet somewhere in Marla Deaton’s house was used as the base for a centerpiece consisting of flowers ad large decorative Easter eggs.

SPRING CITY—When you visit Marla Deaton in Spring City, you get introduced to her creativity and passion for home decoration right at her front door.

In mid-April, the door boasted a burst of large flower petals and a sign that said, ‘Welcome Spring.”

Deaton has a theme, color scheme and decorations for every season and at least seven holidays. During the 24 years her husband, David, was in the military, she gathered dinner plates, ceramics, intricately painted eggs and nativity scenes from around the world, not to mention a “table cloth for every holiday.”

“In my travels, I pick up things,” she says.

Some of her decorations have special symbolism or are tied into family traditions.

During David’s time in the U.S. Air Force, the family lived in Omaha, Neb. twice, England twice, Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada. His longest assignment was at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas.

The Deatons moved to Spring City 13 years ago. David, who trained as a physician’s assistant while in the Air Force, now works in the Emergency Department at Sanpete Valley Hospital.

Marla is a substitute teacher, who takes long-term assignments with the North Sanpete School District. Presently, she’s teaching third grade at Mt. Pleasant Elementary.

Besides the front door, she sets up decorations as centerpieces in her dining room; on the island in her kitchen; on a shelf above her computer table, on her coffee table and mantle, and on a cabinet in her living room.

In April, the focus is on Easter and the arrival of spring. The colors are bright pastels. As described above, decorations include bunnies, painted imitation eggs and flowers. Marla always has an Easter egg hunt in her backyard, typically attended by all of her 11 grandchildren.

Almost every month, she hosts a luncheon for Relief Society members in her LDS ward who have birthdays that month. Aptly, she does the decorating. Other Relief Society members bring the food.

For a gathering held April 12, she set out blue-pattern plates from England (sometimes called Blue Willow plates). Every place setting had a card on the plate that read “Hoppy Birthday,” a reference to the Easter bunny.

Under the card was orange candy pieces shaped and wrapped in plastic to resemble a carrot. (As any school child knows, bunnies eat carrots.)

A decorated door, with a sign next to it that reads "Welcome Spring." — Visitors get introduced to Maria Deaton’s passion for home decoration at her front door. This is her decorated door in April. The sign says, “Welcome Spring.”

Two tables were set up for the luncheon. On one was a ceramic bunny and beyond the bunny a drawer assumedly pulled out of a cabinet somewhere in the house. Inside the drawer were flowers and glass vases that served as pedestals for large, decorated eggs (not real, of course).

On the other table was a carousel overflowing with spring flowers and Easter eggs.

Over other months, decorations appear based on the weather, season or holiday.

In January, the theme is “frozen.” The thematic color, reflected in table and other decorations, is blue, with silver balls as accents.

In February, she celebrates Valentine’s Day. Her colors are red and pink.

“There are hearts everywhere,” says her granddaughter Jema Beesley, one of four grandchildren currently living with Marla and her husband.

“I even have heart-shaped plates,” she says. There’s a glass canister in the kitchen filled with chocolate kisses and strands of block letters spelling out, “Hugs”

In March, her theme is St. Patrick’s Day. The living area is decorated with shamrocks and rainbows. For breakfast, she might serve Lucky Charms or Green Eggs and Ham.

In April, the focus is on Easter and the arrival of spring. The colors are bright pastels. As described above, decorations include bunnies, painted imitation eggs and flowers. Marla always has an Easter egg hunt in her back yard, typically attended by all of her 11 grandchildren.

In May and June, she sets out lots of flowers

The focus in July is the Fourth of July. “Everything’s red, white and blue.” She has star plates and star napkins.

In August, she decorates based on a beach theme with a lot of seashells, including ceramic shells that light up. She also sets out some starfish. To express the idea of a blue ocean, she often reuses the blue glasses she used in January for her “frozen” theme.

September is back-to-school month. “I have wooden decorations that look like notebooks, pencils and pens,” she says, “You can slide them into a flower arrangement.”

In October, her decorations center on Halloween and the coming of fall. She displays lots of colored leaves. Using ceramic pumpkins, she sets up an imitation pumpkin patch in her living room.

The fall theme continues into November and up to Thanksgiving. She has plates that look like colored corn. Add yellow glassware and candlelight and the table “glistens with oranges and golds.”

One unusual Christmas tree decoration at the Deaton home is a ceramic pickle. It is hidden on Christmas Eve. The first person to see the pickle on Christmas morning gets an extra gift. The Christmas pickle tradition comes from Germany.

And then there’s December and Christmas. Because the Deaton family spent several years in England, they’ve chosen to observe some English Christmas traditions.

At Christmas dinner, every place setting has a “cracker.” It’s a decorated tube, about the size of a tin can, containing a paper crown, a joke and a small gift.

Family members, seated at a candlelit table, pull open their crackers. That action creates a popping sound; thus the term “crackers.” They all put on their crowns. At each place setting is a cadbury rose, a rose-shaped chocolate.

Their tree is decorated with cranberries, gold beads and old-fashioned Christmas balls. “There’s not much green left when we’re done,” Marla says.

One unusual decoration, and another Deaton family tradition, is a ceramic pickle. That tradition comes from Germany, where Marla’s ancestors are from. The pickle is hung at the time the tree is decorated. But on Christmas eve it is moved and hidden in the tree. On Christmas morning, no one is permitted to touch the tree—everyone has to search with their eyes. The first person who sees it gets the “pickle gift.”

Aside from the tree, centerpieces, a kitchen-island display and streamers above the fireplace, the living and dining rooms are decorated with about 20 nativity sets.

Marla collects nativities. “I probably have too many, according to my kids,” she says.

What motivates Marla to put so much effort into designing and setting out decorations. “As I open my seasonal boxes (where she stores the decorations), the things inside remind me of days gone past,” she says.

“Most of the items I decorate my home with are gifts from family and friends, or are from places we have travel to. I love the memories I have made with my family and friends and look to making many more together.”