Hampton Roads workers take holiday decorations seriously

Across Hampton Roads, workers took a break from winter work this month to deck their cubicles, offices and lobbies with holiday displays ranging from a tiki bar to a Christmas tree festooned with American flags.

Some competed in companywide contests. Some did it for the joy of the holidays.

Some decorated during work, others during the cover of darkness.

The exercise banished "Bah humbugs," and bosses didn't complain about lost productivity.

"It pulled everybody closer together," said Mike Wendel, president of AVW Technologies Inc., a defense subcontractor in Chesapeake. "It kept the office vibrant and energetic."

Avis Budget Group LLC Virginia Beach (photos by Stephen M. Katz, The Virginian-Pilot)

Tracey Lassiter, above, gracefully bowed out of the holiday decorating contest this year; everyone knew she'd win again if she competed.

Instead, the loss prevention agent requested space in the cafeteria to construct her newest cardboard masterpiece. She practically lived there for the next month and a half.

Lassiter wanted to do a train, just to see if she could. From there, she kept building out: train station with ramp and luggage; Santa's workshop with elves, benches, a giant clock and an intricate chandelier.

For good measure, she added the sleigh and reindeer she made last year. Eight co-workers lent a hand.

Lassiter's sets are legendary at Avis. She's also done a football stadium for the Super Bowl and a "Family Feud "game show.

"I look at something, and I learn how to build it myself," she said. "I've done art my whole life."

Below, reconciliation agent Mary Ann Pitre's cubicle is unrecognizable inside of the "home" she created at Avis Budget Group's office in the Beach.

AVW Technologies Inc. Chesapeake (photos by Stephen M. Katz, The Virginian-Pilot)

Stealth was key. The four military analysts didn't decorate their workstation until two days before the deadline, so their competitors wouldn't get any clues. They turned it into a tiki bar, where, analyst Tom Weston said, Santa relaxes after his Christmas Eve work is done.

The bar - featuring tiki torches, beach towels, replicas of palm trees and margarita glasses - was named grand champion in the company's second annual decorating contest. But competition was fierce.

Office manager Alisha Zysko, above left, and financial analyst Regina Sellers, right, refashioned their office into "Sugar Plum Admin Land." They created a candy-cane chandelier, cotton-candy sticks filled with pillow stuffing, and jumbo lollipops made of paper plates. They even brought in a real cotton-candy maker.

Other entries included "Santa's Workshop" and military analyst Kelly Forrester's ode to his boyhood. He brought in more than a dozen toy cars and two tracks to race them on.

Above, senior military analyst J.D. Carpenter decorated his desk with the theme "Homey Christmas."

Company President Mike Wendel was the judge. "It was tough, but the bribes were influential and led me to my decision," he joked.

Farm Fresh Store Support Center Virginia Beach (photo by Ross Taylor, The Virginian-Pilot)

Cheri Loyko is claustrophobic, but that didn't stop her from transforming her office cubicle into a gingerbread house, complete with hinged door.

The pricing specialist persuaded her husband to construct a wooden framework for a peaked roof over her desk. Her creation took shape over five hours on a Saturday: real candy glued to brown-paper walls, a white cloth roof lined with candy canes, cotton snow, plastic-wrap windows, and a plush Santa Claus preparing to dive through a chimney made from a gift bag.

Pricing manager Renee Johnson took one look and threw in the towel.

She posted a sign on her cubicle. "Decorate my cube?" she wrote. "See what I'm up against?"

Since the Christmas after 9/11, employees at First Command Financial Planning on Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach have patriotically trimmed the tree in the reception area.

The tree features about two dozen miniature flags and about the same number of red, silver and blue heart-shaped ornaments. It's fitting, said receptionist Madeline Cox, the main decorator, for a company founded in the '50s to help relatives of military personnel killed in an aircraft accident.

"We still have strong military participation," Cox said. "We want to respect them."

Who's that tough-looking snowman? He's a Billy Taylor wannabe.

Taylor is a facilities maintenance worker at Oceana Naval Air Station's Dam Neck Annex and "the go-to man when anyone needs anything," said Susan Henson, a public affairs officer with annex's Center for Personal and Professional Development.

So co-workers honored him with a likeness. Just like Taylor, the snowman has a mustache, black back brace, suspenders and sneakers. Unlike the real Taylor, the snowman's body is made of scraps from a paper shredder.

Scarlette Ballard's blue menorah celebrates not just the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, but also her family's resiliency. Ballard's grandfather was shot to death by Nazis in the streets of Berlin, while her mother and grandmother hid in their attic.

Ballard's family moved to the United States when she was 8. "We celebrate the present and learn from the past," said Ballard, a patient account representative at Cardiovascular Associates in Virginia Beach.

It took four days for Chief Warrant Officer Wayne Cummings and three workers to create the lighted gingerbread house in the galley at Oceana Naval Air Station.

The columns are candy canes, the window shutters are black licorice sticks, and the trees, inverted ice cream cones. Cummings, the food service officer at Oceana, has been doing gingerbread houses since 1998, when Adm. J. Paul Reason wanted one at Norfolk Naval Station.

"People are surprised it's in here," Cummings said. "They don't expect something extravagant like this in the dining hall.

"Heather Crane, a legal secretary, spends lots of time at a copier at the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. So she decided to spruce it up with a leftover decoration from home.

Co-workers Ebony Jackson, Jeanette Newton and Beth Ufkes added other touches to the office, including a garland of Christmas lights brightening a shelf that holds dreary tomes of the Code of Virginia.

"Grandma got run over by a reindeer" - and you can find her body at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group in Virginia Beach.

Six employees in the compliance department of the mortgage lender recreated the scene, crime tape and all. Decorations for the company's annual cubicle contest "reached new heights this season," marketing director Gary Hudgins said. The grandma display went beyond one cubicle and featured reindeer mug shots and even reindeer hoofprints throughout the building.

The staff at La Selecta 1050 (WVXX), a Spanish AM radio station in Norfolk, attempted to blend American and Hispanic traditions.

The decorations included the three kings, a Nativity scene, a snowman and musical instruments, including bells, drums and maracas. "We like to think the display expresses 'Merry Christmas' and 'Feliz Navidad' all in one," said Meryl Hindlin, the office manager.

"This is our first year in our new building, and we wanted to do something really special," said Mike Hockett, owner of Tidewater Auto Auction in Virginia Beach. "So we bought a ton of snowflakes, broke out some fishing line and a bunch of paper clips, and you can see the results."

The decorating experience showed that the employees "are just big kids," he said. Hockett loves to watch them "come in, look up and smile. It's almost uncontrollable."