Located at the only four-way stop in the small town of Pinehurst, Idaho is a bit of Christmas nostalgia.
Most people miss it as they drive past on Interstate 90.
But if you take a slight detour, you will find a small town scene fit for a movie at Watts Appliance.
The family-owned business unveiled another set of elaborate Christmas windows this December with the help of some creative upcycling.
Sherri Watts White is the woman behind the annual displays.
Her inspiration this year came at the urging of her son. He wanted her to feature scenes from "A Christmas Story." But White had her work cut out for her. She needed to create the windows for a movie she hadn’t yet seen.
But the bigger issue was money.
Watts Appliance does not have a Christmas window budget. So White repurposes other people’s trash into pieces for her displays.
Her biggest upcycling score came earlier in the year while delivering a washing machine to a customer.
“There was a slide abandoned in his yard. And I needed a slide for Higbee’s Santa display, so I asked. And the gentlemen said, ‘take the whole thing.’”
White loaded up the old slide.
She used part of it to recreate the iconic scene where Ralphie visits Santa only to be pushed down a giant department store slide.
The radio featured in another window scene came from her Grandmother.
“They used it in the 1940s or 50s,” White guessed.
Pallets manufacturers used to deliver appliances to Watts also find a second life in the Christmas windows. A staircase in the current display was made from old pallets which once carried coolers.
Silver Valley store upcycles to create nostalgic Christmas windows
White looks for items around the store she can reuse or repurpose all year long.
The 2017 window display depicted a North Pole control center. Many of the buttons came from old appliances.
Upcycling parts has become an art for White who has spent most of her life working at the store. Her parents opened it in 1966. And they began designing Christmas windows in the 1980s.
It was always a family affair.
With the help of her mom, White created a display each year as her way of giving back to the Watts Appliance customers.
“It’s more and more fun, we have a lot of community people who really enjoy,” explained White. “It’s so fun to do it for them.”
As time has passed, decorating the windows has become a solo job with White’s mother now in her 80s.
White has already started thinking about the next set of Christmas windows. It takes her about one year to plan and gather everything she needs.
Her favorite Christmas window themes from years past include the North Pole control room, the Nutcracker and her Salute to Service Men which was dedicated to local firefighters after a tough wildfire season.
It is not too late to see the Watts Appliance Christmas display. Their rendition of "A Christmas Story" will be up until after New Years.
