December 21st, 2022Creswick’s very Christmassy house

Words & images: Eve Lamb

When driving through Creswick on the main drag headed to Ballarat, it’s hard not to notice the abode of Dot and Laurie Porter.
You know it. It’s the one on the left with all the Christmassy extravagance.
Over the past decade Laurie and Dot, their children, and now their grandchildren have continued to add to the front yard spectacle celebrating the season.
It’s hard to image now that it all started with some comparatively modest Christmas lights, because as Dot and Laurie explain, after Laurie’s Christmas-loving brother, Mickey, passed away their residential yuletide decorations became somewhat more elaborate.
“Mickey loved Christmas,” Dot says.
When Mickey left some money behind, they decided to use it to honour his memory with something they knew he would have loved. And so, what has today become locally known as “Christmas House” began to take on a life of its own.
Christmas trees, reindeer, sleighs, bud lights, candy canes, elves, baubles, Santa sacks and angels abound.
“We haven’t added much this year – only that train there, and the reindeer over there, and the nativity scene over there, and the new snow machine,” says Laurie who has fine-tuned his bubble recipe to create ‘snow’ for the snow machine.
“It was so cold last night when we turned the machine on that the ‘snow’ was still on the ground this morning. The kids just love the snow machine.”
Besides their now grown-up 17 grandchildren, Dot and Laurie also have 23 great-grandchildren to enjoy the Christmas spectacle in honour of their Great-Uncle Mickey.
“It’s for the kids. To see the smiles on their faces,” Dot says.
“Some of our grandchildren dress up as elves on Christmas Eve and everything lights up. We’ve got solar-powered lights and also standard electric lights. The nativity scene is powered by solar. At night when it lights up, it’s really nice.”
Suffice to say the overall effect attracts plenty of fans in the countdown to Christmas, particularly after dark on Christmas Eve…and it’s even rumoured that Santa sometimes makes a guest appearance.
But he wouldn’t be the only one. Over the past couple of years the Creswick Brass Band has also rolled up to pay a special pre-Christmas visit to the Porter residence at 166 Ballarat Road, and dispensed some musical yuletide cheer there as well.
In fact, Creswick Brass Band members say they are now getting set to play carols at the Creswick IGA from 6.30pm to 7.30pm this Friday, December 23, and after that will also be playing carols at the Porters’ place for an hour or more from 8.30pm this Friday and then again on Saturday, Christmas Eve from 8.30pm.
No doubt Uncle Mickey will be smiling down from somewhere – and loving it.