“It is with great sadness that we have to call it quits,” she said.
“There’s a lot of hard work involved in getting it set up.”
The couple thanked the community for their generous donations to their chosen charity Child Cancer Foundation over the years.
“Over the last 18 years we have raised in excess of $30,000,” Denise said.
She also thanked people for “the many lovely homemade cards, baking, chocolates and gifts that the community have given us”.
“We really appreciate all the kindness.”
Denise remembered when their Christmas wonderland started all those years ago.
“My friend and I took a bottle of champagne and some strawberries, and Lew drove us to see the Christmas lights around Kāpiti.
“When we came home Lew said ‘they weren’t very good – we could do better than that’ so we went to the Boxing Day sales and bought Christmas lights and it went from there.”
The display grew each year and got better with Lew’s homemade displays.
“Last time I counted there were about 156 electric motors in the displays,” Lew said.
The couple were looking to sell their displays.
“If anyone is interested in purchasing any of our displays they can call Lew on 021 221 3496.
“We would like the displays to be kept together but they are all individual so can be separated.”
Their last Christmas wonderland is expected to be up and running on the weekend of December 10/11 through to December 26 starting at 8pm or half an hour earlier on the last week.
Father Christmas will be making a special visit on December 16 at 8pm.
