One of the more unusual outdoor Christmas trees on display in the local area this year is located on the State Line Road just south of West Point Dam. It’s about 15-feet-tall and made of six large hay bales — three on the bottom, two in the middle and one on top.It’s the idea of Springwood ninth grade student Brady Spradlin. His mom and dad, Lisa and Joe Spradlin, helped him get it together. The project is the sign of great initiative and creativity on the part of a young, local resident.

Brady and his family created the unusual Christmas decoration while using the family’s tractor. All the bales had to be painted green, which took some time.

“The hard part was painting it dark green,” Brady explained. “That took a long time and a lot of cans of spray paint. It was a lot of fun for all of us.”

The ‘tree’ needed a plethora of clips to keep the lights on the bales of hay. There’s a good many ornaments on the tree and some gifts in the form of small square bales underneath. It wasn’t necessary to paint them. The natural brown color contrasts nicely against the dark green bales. Ornaments on the tree include Santa riding in his sleigh and some large candy canes.

The Christmas tree is Brady’s second creative project. In the 2017 Thanksgiving season he made a large chicken to celebrate his favorite hobby. He loves to raise chickens, and he’s good at it, too. The Spradlins have around 50 chickens in a fenced-in area near their home.

Brady has shown a knack for creativity at a young age, as well as an ability to follow-through on projects. Congratulations to one of our local youths, who obviously has a bright future ahead. We look forward to learning about your future projects and creative endeavors.