Winter Decoration

  After we take down the bright red, green, gold, and silver of Christmas decorations and pack them away everything seems so plain. In Georgia we have nothing................ until late January when most shops begin to decorate their windows and displays for Valentine's Day.

We are so happy to see the color, but by then our own homes seem just fine with their normal colors and without the extra clutter.





Maybe a few more cut flowers to tide us over until Spring.  BUT, when I went back to Mississippi for my last trip, I quickly realized I was not in South Georgia anymore.



Gold, purple, and green everywhere!

Houses ............



.................. large ............


and small.....................  apartments.......

 shops.................

 restaurants ..............



coffee/candy stores ..............

. churches ..........

 and schools are all decked out for Mardi Gras. (Which I read  means Fat Tuesday!)

But Mardi Gras is a season of celebrating ending on Fat Tuesday.



In Mobile they will have parades and balls from February 5 until March 8. And New Orleans of course celebrates big time over that same period.


Multiple parades daily in these two towns. Every "secret" organization putting on their own parade. Then after Fat Tuesday begins the forty days of lent .................

 leading up to Easter. Easter is really late this year, April 24, therefore, the Mardi Gras "season" is starting late .

This area was settled by the Spanish and Mardi Gras was celebrated in this region in those Spanish days. Any information beyond that varies according to the region. Mobile claims the longest running celebration and so do areas in Louisiana.
 


But, I do know that most towns in this area have at least one parade near Mardi Gras. Most have more than one. And Louisiana actually proclaimed Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, a holiday.

 
And Hobby Lobby had all of the necessary supplies....





for home decor. I also saw a float for sell in Ocean Springs.




I really wondered about these bags. I thought everyone wanted to wear their beads. Do they collect candy? Or just too many beads to wear?

.
Hobby Lobby has the beads too!