Sister act

HAYDEN — There’s a kissing booth with the words “Happy Valentine’s Day” outside the home of Carolyn Lyden. Kisses started at 10 cents. Then a nickel. Finally, free.

Lucy, sitting at the booth, doesn’t seem to be having much luck, other than the frog puckered up next to her.

“I don’t think Lucy looks too happy about it,” Lyden said, smiling.

The yard display is just one of many that goes up for most holiday and annual celebrations. St. Patrick’s Day. Easter. Fourth of July. Veterans Day. High school graduations. And yes, Valentine’s Day, which is Sunday.

“She just made the frog here last week, the kissing frog,” said sister Colleen McCracken, who lives in Liberty Lake.

Lyden and McCracken have made character cutouts in the shop in the backyard for nearly a decade. Olaf and Elsa, Snoopy, The Grinch and Cindy Lou, Uncle Sam, witches, turkeys and rabbits have, over the years, taken up posts in Lyden’s Hayden Avenue yard, much to the enjoyment of passersby.

“People love it. People go by and they’ll honk at you,” Lyden said. “They give you the thumbs up.”

Many stop for pictures, posing their children next to the colorful creations. Others leave flowers or small gifts behind.

“That’s always nice,” Lyden said.

A third-grade class across the way at Hayden Meadows Elementary School sent over a card filled with appreciative notes.

“Thank you for making our neighborhood special.”

“Thank you for what you’ve done to make our world a pretty place."

“Thank you for making holidays more fun.”

“Thank you for everything you do for this community.”

Those words bring smiles to the faces of the sisters.

“Aren’t they neat?” McCracken asks.

“That means a lot to us,” Lyden responds.

The roots of the holiday yard art can be traced back to 2013 when Lyden, McCracken and a third sister, Mary Ann St. Louis, turned the standing stump of a dead tree into a tree house.

All three constructed the frame and roof that covers it, and added on a small door with a “Welcome” heart and a window with a flower box underneath.

Today, Lyden is 84 and McCracken is 82 and they’re still working in that shop out back, restoring doors from 100-year-old homes, old barn doors and still making holiday figures. Due to the coronavirus restrictions in Washington state, 85-year-old Mary Ann can’t join them for now.

The sisters — a fourth, Jeanne, is 89 — were close growing up in Tekoa, Wash.

“Carolyn and I have always done everything together,” McCracken said.

Lyden is a women of many talents. She started the Ski Shack in 1976, guided its growth, and still owns it on Government Way.

“We have more stuff than most big shops have,” she said.

Business has been good.

“Fantastic. Better than ever,” she said.

Lyden, who has 18 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren, learned the construction craft from her husband, and in turn, shared with her sisters.

“She taught me to build so now we both build all the time,” McCracken said.

It is in the shop, using a jigsaw, Lyden cuts out the characters she plans to highlight in her yard, sands and paints them, as well.

“We try and do things the kids like,” she said.

Once finished, they are kept in a storage shed until called upon. There are pigs, skunks, skeletons, elves, rainbows and Santa waiting to be set free each year. They’ll add different pieces from the previous year.

It’s not work. They do it for fun and to create happy holidays.

“We get a lot of joy from it,” McCracken said.