PORTERSVILLE — The windows at the Presbyterian Church of Portersville are filled with holiday cheer as members decorate the sills with frills for Christmas.

The church has nine painted glass windows in its sanctuary, each with a deep windowsill. For more than a decade, church members have signed up to put their own decorative touches on the individual sills, not only at Christmas, but also during the Easter season and Thanksgiving.

For this year's Christmas display, one window features a topiary of red and white roses, while another shows an evergreen tree surrounded by carolers. Still another contains an empty manger with a sign reading "Is something missing in your Christmas?"

"It's a fun thing," said the Rev. Dana Opp, the church's pastor. "It gives the people the chance to do something a little unique and kind of creative."

The tradition began under the church's previous pastor, the Rev. Thomas Clyde. He began the window-decorating tradition almost 20 years ago as part of his Harvest Home service in the fall.

It was in that time that Gladys Sickle was first asked to decorate one of the windows, and she still continues to volunteer.

"(Clyde) was very interested in it. He liked everything to be very nice," Sickle said.

Sickle's display this year, a large representation of the Holy Family shadowed by a golden angel and accented by a sheath of wheat and pine garland, is simple, she said.

"It took off and they really liked that, and I thought, 'Why not do Christmas the same way?'" Clyde said. "It was a good thing that people liked to do, and it just caught on."

Clyde was first attracted to the decorating idea by the wideness of the windows, which he said were between 40 and 48 inches. He said the sills were about 6 inches deep.

Opp said it is usual for some of the displays to be basic, while others go all out.

"Some do more ornate. Some of the folks in our church have design skills," he said. "Some do simple things. But no one's brought in PowerPoint yet."

Donna Shidemantle, another church member who volunteers to decorate one of the windows, used tall, ivory figures this year to create a manger scene, and she accented it with a Christmas tree to the side.

Her display is completed each year with a frame quoting a Bible verse related to the Christmas story. This year, Shidemantle used Luke 2:14: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Shidemantle keeps a special box of window-decorating items and reuses items from year to year, but the display usually changes.

"I take away something or add something," she said. "People come up with very creative ideas. People enjoy looking at the scenery."

Sickle said people enjoy the variety offered by different families decorating the windows. All nine windowsills are decorated by a different person or family.

"Everybody has their own little ideas," she said. For instance, the church pianist this year built her display using a Nativity set that had once belonged to her aunt.