Story: Jo Harrison
For Renee and Robbie Porter, going all out decorating their house at 16 Merinda Place with a show-stopping display of Christmas lights is something they just love to do for the community, but more importantly they do it for their kids.
Now in their fourth year and only the second year at their current address, the couple started planning around five months in advance.
“This year is our biggest year yet,” said Renee.
“We start around the middle of the year planning what we were going to do. A lot of things this year we had to build, which took time.”
The daunting task of setting up the display and checking all the lights takes about five weeks, with the couple enlisting the help of brother-in-law Josh Fuller and Mum Christine Cleary.
When quizzed as to how many lights are in the display, Renee and Robbie just laugh!
“We sat on the balcony the other night and tried to add up the sets, but it was just impossible,” said Renee.
“There has got to be hundreds of thousands, we just couldn’t count that many.”
Renee’s favourite part of the display for this year is the Santa’s Workshop and the sleigh.
“This was hand built and designed by us and no-one else has anything like it, which we think makes our display very special,” said Renee.
Renee and Robbie encourage everyone in Armidale to muster up all their Christmas spirit and have a go at decorating their house.
“The more the merrier,” said Renee.
“Even though we have our own lights display, we still take the kids out to look at other people’s Christmas lights display.”
