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Average gas prices for Dec. 23

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Happy birthday to Ian Tallini!

<p>FORTY FORT &#8212; The Reilly household on River Street is noticeable. It&#8217;s a large, white, stately home with high-reaching columns and two lion statues that guard the threshold. This year, though, the property features unique Christmas decorations that make the house stand out more than usual.</p><p>In addition to their regular yuletide decor, which includes an antique sleigh from the early 1900s, a wreath on the front door, garland wrapping the columns, dressed up lions and lights in the bushes, the Reillys&#8217; display showcases a troupe of rather realistic-looking zombies holding jumbo-sized Christmas ornaments and wearing Santa Claus hats and beards. According to the family, the merry dead were introduced as a joke but quickly began turning heads.</p><p>Bud Reilly, who started the display with the help of his son, Charlie, said the inspiration for the jolly zombies came when Bud&#8217;s wife, Linda, insisted he take down their Halloween decorations.</p><p>&#8220;She was screaming, &#8216;Get rid of those; my friends are calling,&#8217;&#8221; Bud said.</p><p>Bud said he set out to clean up the PVC and paper-mache zombies he purchased at an auction several years ago, but his sense of humor got the best of him.</p><p>Charlie became involved, he said, when his dad reached out for help with the joke.</p><p>&#8220;He called me the one day and said, &#8216;Hey, I need you to come over and help me decorate, but we have to do it when Mom&#8217;s not home. It&#8217;ll take five minutes,&#8217;&#8221; Charlie said. &#8220;My buddy and I came over &#8230; and just as a joke, I said, &#8216;Watch, I bet my dad&#8217;s going to make us decorate the zombies for Christmas. It turns out, that actually was his idea &#8230; mostly to get (my mom) upset, just to play a joke.&#8221;</p><p>Charlie said the prank, designed to annoy his mother, garnered immediate attention.</p><p>&#8220;Within 10 minutes of putting them in the yard, we had people pulling over and taking pictures of them, so they just stuck since then,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Linda appreciated the gag, she admitted, but is still a bit unsure of advertising the Christmas additions to those closest to her.</p><p>&#8220;I did laugh,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It is funny. Usually I would say, &#8216;You&#8217;ve got to see our decorations,&#8217; but I&#8217;m almost a little embarrassed.&#8221;</p><p>While Bud insists the initial motivation was to playfully tease Linda, he maintains there was another reason for decking the dead.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a matter of laziness,&#8221; Linda said with a laugh. &#8220;They just didn&#8217;t want to put them away, so they thought they&#8217;d bring some balls and decorations and lights.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all it was,&#8221; Bud added. &#8220;We thought it would tick her off.&#8221;</p><p>The Reillys&#8217; sense of humor, Linda said, has been appreciated by onlookers well past that fateful day when the first zombie received a Santa hat &#8230; or perhaps when St. Nicholas rose from the dead.</p><p>&#8220;People stop all the time, and there are almost near accidents,&#8221; Linda said. &#8220;Or they call and they say, &#8216;Can we take pictures of our kids near your lions or near your display?&#8217; I say, &#8216;Go right ahead.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Even the neighbors, Bud said, have approached him while he&#8217;s been doing yard work to compliment the ghoulish display.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s in the Christmas spirit, no matter what&#8217;s out there,&#8221; Linda said.</p><p>According to Bud, the family hasn&#8217;t talked yet about whether the zombies will become a fixture during Christmas as they are on Halloween, but he said it is a possibility.</p><p>&#8220;Wait until you see our Easter display,&#8221; he joked.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A lion statue wears a Santa hat just near the front door of the Reilly residence on River Street in Forty Fort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ChristmasDecor3.jpg</photo0><caption0>A lion statue wears a Santa hat just near the front door of the Reilly residence on River Street in Forty Fort. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ChristmasDecor2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">An old-fashioned sleigh sits underneath a wreath decorated outside of the Reilly residence in Forty Fort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ChristmasDecor2.jpg</photo1><caption1>An old-fashioned sleigh sits underneath a wreath decorated outside of the Reilly residence in Forty Fort. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ChristmasDecor1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Zombie decorations outside the Reilly house on River Street in Forty Fort. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_ChristmasDecor1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Zombie decorations outside the Reilly house on River Street in Forty Fort. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Joke decorations gain popularity among passers-by</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or <a href="mailto:Twitter@TLArts">Twitter@TLArts</a></p></shirttailMeta></div>

Festive zombies are centerpiece of Christmas display for Forty Fort family