Each December the East Street home of Harden residents Norm and Joan Porter is transformed into a Christmas wonderland.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
When they retired to Harden from Crookwell the Porters brought with them a collection of Christmas decorations boosted when they were owners of a Christmas shop, that they now share with the wider community.
The Porter's Christmas house is on the corner of Scott and East Streets. You can't miss it.
It will be open on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, December 14 and 15 , from 5pm to 9pm.
CanAssist is running a barbecue and Jody Potts is taking photos with Santa from 5pm to 7pm.
Entry is by donation with all proceeds going to CanAssist.
Maxine Davis, who is the Harden branch secretary of CanAssist described the Porter's as "a wonderful family".
Norm and Joan have donated an average of $2000 to CanAssist each year for the past four years.
"It's just good to see people come back time after time," Mrs Porter said of the display which took her and Norm between six and eight weeks to complete.
"We don't decorate 24/7 during that time, just a bit at a time, but it would take that long before it is all done.
The Porters have been decorating their home, firstly in Crookwell and then in Harden, for the benefit of immediate family for many years before being prompted by friends and relatives to throw the doors open to the public.
Joan said that they had resisted for quite some time but when they decided to throw open the doors choosing a charity to benefit was an easy decision.
Choosing CanAssist as a beneficiary was a "personal decision" with Joan explaining that both her and Norm had lost family and friends to cancer.
"It's just good to do something cheerful," Joan said.
"Christmas is the one time of the year when you wish the other 11 months of the year could be same, we just enjoy doing it.
"People say we go to so much trouble, but it's not trouble when you enjoy it.
"We do it for ourselves but it's nice that other people can enjoy it with us," she said of the display.
"We've always done this, first it was for the our children and grandchildren."
Entry is by gold coin donation but all donations are very much appreciated by CanAssist.
Proceeds from entry, the barbecue and the photos with Santa all go to the Harden branch of CanAssist.
