FRANKLIN—The Hardaway’s first year of living at their Franklin home became an eventful one Friday when they won Franklin’s Annual Christmas Decoration Contest.
“My children leave all kinds of toys around the yard, they must have mistaken them all for Christmas decorations” Thelma Hardaway said. “I always tell them they need to clean up after themselves.”
The half acre yard was decorated with stray toys, toilet paper strewn through all of the trees, home and yard. An inflatable love doll could be seen in the window of the front porch, with decorations remaining from Halloween, including a rotten jack o’ lantern.
“We’ve been meaning to clean all this shit up for awhile now” Hardaway said. “It just kept growing, it got bigger.”
The committee that determines the contest winner said they believed she had been decorating before the end of September, but didn’t realize all of the decorations were just debris.
“My kids don’t want to see the look in my eyes when they find out how lazy they have been.” Hardaway said.
Francis Turner, the Hardaway’s neighbor, says 12 to 15 vehicles stop daily to see the yard sale, only to find out there isn’t one.
“It’s an eye sore,” Turner said. “My (3-year-old) grandson (Trey Turner) calls it Chuck E. Cheese.
Hardaway’s ex-husband James, a truck driver, said he is surprised they won under the circumstances, “She’s the laziest person I’ve ever met.”
“I think it’s amazing that they can’t even pick the yard up, why do you think I left her?” James said, noting that his former wife had also received aid from Hurricane Irene because the Insurance adjuster believed the storm had destroyed the yard. “It didn’t,” he said.
The family will receive a $100 gift card to Wal-Mart for winning the contest and will be entered into the statewide decoration contest.