Over the last two months, Alice and Greg Ball have been busy setting up a huge display of Christmas lights and decorations in and around their Gerringong house for the last time. 

What started with a few Christmas lights about 21 years ago has evolved into a huge effort, with a full window display featuring dancing Santas, Vintage Telco Elves, a Polar Express train set and lots more.

Alice works on the window display while Greg puts up the decorations outside, including a snow machine which is used on nights with no rain or wind.

“There’s many houses with lights but we are different, as we have our window display as well as the lights to go with it,” says Greg.

This will be the last year that Alice and Greg will be doing the full size scale of decorations, but they will still continue to put up some lights and smaller pieces in the garden for years to come.

“It is very sad to be our last year,” says Greg.

Alice and Greg Ball with their grandsons

“We won’t go cold turkey but unfortunately the window, Santa’s workshop, will be closed next year,” says Greg.

“It’s a very tough decision, but we’ve had to balance out life which has changed, especially in the last couple of years,” says Alice.

“We will try and organise something else to make Christmas special for everyone.”

While they have done it for the love of Christmas and their community, they have also raised money for the Children’s Medical Research Institute’s Gerringong branch.

“We raise an average of about $1,000 a year for the Institute,” says Greg.

“It’s been a tough couple of years and the charities don’t stop, so if people can find that little something to give, it will help them out.”

Alice and Greg encourage all of the community to check out their display and to not be afraid to get up close to the window.

“We want people to get close and squish their faces against the windows because it’s a sign of a good night when there’s fingerprints the next day,” says Alice.

“We’ve enjoyed doing it just as much as everyone who has come to look at them,” says Greg.

23 Croft Place, Gerringong.

The lights are on from 4.30-10.30pm, every day until 31 December.

The window display is off by 9.30pm.