Wally and Ginger Laxson of the East Limestone community have left their Christmas tree up year round for about 17 years.

Ginger collects angels and it’s the best way to display them. Besides, when she talks about taking down the tree her grandchildren object.

“This is my special place,” she said. “I come in here every morning with my cup of coffee and sit and read my Bible. It gets my day started.”

Such tranquil routines are a treat for someone who spent more than 40 years on the road traveling with her husband, Wally, as a gospel music duet. They also raised two sons in an Airstream camper trailer and in more motels and hotels than they can count across the U.S., Canada and the Mideast.

But their sons, Kip and Kylan, adjusted. They formed their own gospel and ventriloquism act.

Wally and Ginger Laxson came in off the road in 2003 when Ginger was injured.

“We’ve slowed down,” said Wally.

“We’ve slowed way down,” said Ginger.

The couple had been standing outside an auditorium where they were performing in Ohio when the accident happened.

“A little boy ran over her with his bicycle,” said Wally. “It broke her wrist and her ankle. She eventually had to have surgery on her wrist.”

Ginger said she couldn’t “hold out every night” to perform.

“I took an early retirement,” said Ginger. “I slowed down and began to work in a different way.”

Wally and Ginger are part of the music ministry at Spring Avenue Nazarene Church in Decatur.

“We can be gone anytime we want,” said Ginger. “It’s not like we’re regular staff members. If we want to be off, we can be off. We still like to be with our sons.”

The couple’s older son, Kip, is a district superintendent of the United Methodist Church, based in Tuscaloosa. Kip and his wife, Tammy, a schoolteacher, have two children, a daughter, Kaitlyn, a freshman at Birmingham Southern, and a son, Landon, a sophomore in high school.