DAILY NEWS PHOTOS/Marcelle Hanemann

On the day before the opening of Christmas in the Park, Misty Stewart, right, Family Readiness Group Leader for Bogalusa’s 205th Engineer Battalion of the Louisiana Army National Guard, helps decorate a reminder of the group, which is scheduled to deploy early next year for nine months in Kuwait. McMillan’s donated the tree, which stands just inside the park entry, for the project. Misty’s husband is Sgt. James Stewart.