A Different Sort of Kentucky Derby Decor

Happy Derby Day! I won't be watching it as I will be at Midwest Mini Mayhem in Illinois, but I did decorate my home for the big day!

I have a Derby glass for each year my kids were born. Here they are lined up in order: 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, and 1988.

A vendor at a Great Lakes Congress show sold me the gold and silver metal racehorses that are racing between the glasses.

The dining room table sports a Derby table runner and Refrigerator with Kip Didericksen as jockey.

A used shoe from a Thoroughbred racehorse with genuine Churchill Downs dirt in it (a cool gift from Liz Cory), and a random Derby glass (2007, I think) and my set of Kentucky Derby salt and pepper shakers flank my grandfather's antique railroad lantern.

Finally, I planned to put up my horseshoe shaped wreath that I put out in the Spring and leave on the front door until Fall.

Only that didn't happen this year. I'm disappointed, but I have a good reason to leave the Christmas wreath up. 

I've also learned a lesson. Never, EVER leave your Christmas wreath up until May. No matter how much you like it. Trust me, it's risky. I went to finally take it down and discovered this:

A robin had nested in the wreath and laid three eggs!

That explained why Craig and I had noticed a robin hanging around the front porch and making lots of noise throughout the day.

We were a bit chagrined to realize that every time we had opened the front door, we had been bringing mama and her nest inside our home. That was not going to work - we did not want any loose birds, adults or babies, in our house!

I carefully rehung the Christmas wreath I'd taken down and then closed the front door.

Mama returned right away - can you see her tail?

Here is a closer look.

And her head when she turns around and sits the other way.

So, no horseshoe wreath on Derby Day for me this year! But as soon as the babies fledge, I will switch the wreaths out. In the meantime, it's fun watching mama through the glass as she nurtures her brood.