A family in Wales went above and beyond their annual festive display after spending an entire year preparing.Known to their neighbors as the ‘Christmas House’, the Lucas family from the village of Govilon, near Abergavenny, started preparing 11 months ago when they planted 17 Christmas trees in their garden.They also built a log cabin for Santa Claus and made room for a snowman in the garden and that’s it to raise money for a charity they care about after four members of the family were diagnosed with autism.
Papa Darren Lucas, 54, said: “We’ve been planning it all year round. We’ve been installing them since October. We’re in our fifth week at the moment and not quite done.
“We didn’t realize how big it was until we started to light it all up. My son, all year round he has been scouring the internet looking at America where he can find unusual things.“Last night people stood in line for two hours. It’s the biggest show in South Wales, I think.”
The festivities come after the family’s success last year with their Christmas exhibit created by Darren, his wife Tracy and their children Shane, Shannon, Billie Jo, Tiffany and Jamie.Darren said: “Three of my kids have autism. We saved some money for a family vacation for all of us but because we couldn’t go they decided to spend it on food and went to deliver potatoes to the people who needed them.“They bought costumes and dressed up and went to cheer people on.”
This year the family is raising funds for the One Life Autism support group in Ebbw Vale. The support group is one of Darren’s relatives.Darren said: “When I was a kid there was nothing – I went from a children’s home toresidence. I was labeled as a mean kid, bullied, everything, but today we are able to fight and get support for my kids.“These lights are a symbol of hope to try to get the message across to never give up, keep fighting.“People have been so generous – it’s amazing. We were given five boxes and we have already filled them – it normally takes weeks.“We don’t realize how many people autism affects. We have had children and adults with autism who came here most nights.”
