Growing up in the US State of Pennsylvania with her eight brothers and sisters, Christmas was a magical time for Mary Kartesz-Wardroper.
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Mary and her siblings would go to bed on Christmas Eve and wake on Christmas morning to find their house transformed into a wonderland of lights, ornaments, decorations, music and gifts.
Her parents worked through the night to surprise the children, who firmly believed Santa and his elves had been hard at work while they slept.
Now, many years later and living with her husband Alan in Meadow Springs, near Mandurah in Western Australia, Mary devotes six months of every year to recreating the magic of her childhood Christmases for Mandurah families.
For the past five years, their home in Meadow Springs Drive has become a must visit on the Christmas house circuit in Mandurah. Inside and out, the range of displays and the attention to detail has to be seen to be believed.
Each and every corner of the house has its own themed scene, and the home is ablaze with colour, sparkles, snow falling and lights twinkling.
While husband Alan says he can’t take credit for all Mary’s hard work, he’s only too happy to don the Santa suit and chat amiably to the crowds of visitors coming through their home.
The display, which includes 32 individual nativity scenes and 532 individual Christmas trees, takes three months to assemble and two months to take down.
“Everything gets packed into 700 boxes and stowed away for next year,” Mary said.
“We take care of all the decorations and people bring things for us too – perhaps decorations they can no longer use.”
And the electricity bill?
“It triples at this time of the year,” she said.
The neighbourhood children get into the spirit too, dressing up as elves and entertaining the crowds with acrobatic displays.
But all this hard work is definitely a labour of love.
“We love Christmas and we love greeting people and welcoming them,” Mary said. “People leave here with a smile on their face and that makes us happy. It’s Christmas here every night.”
There is still time to see the display – the home is at 8 Meadow Springs Drive, Mandurah, and is open every night until January 6.
