27 December 2012 Last updated at 18:49

Christmas tradition built from Lego

Addis family sit with Lego German Christmas market (left) and a Victorian Royal Mail postbox inspired by the one outside King's College, Cambridge

A family from Cambridgeshire have celebrated Christmas for more than a decade by building giant Lego creations with a festive theme. One of the earliest (left) was a 4ft (1.22m) German Christmas Market inspired by a Addis family trip to Heidelberg. The "craze" started about 1993 by Mike Addis' wife Catherine who remembers her father building large Lego models for her. The 8ft x 2ft (2.4m x 06.m) post box built in 2009 was a tribute to the one outside King's College, Cambridge.

Lego choristers and a tribute to the Addis family house

The Lego sculptures and Addis children feature in the family's annual Christmas card. "My nephew sang for King's College choir and my father had been in the choir as a boy. We used his picture for the 2003 design," said Mike Addis, from Huntington. "This was quite complex and was our first Christmas card featuring Lego models." In 2004 the family moved house, so created it in a 4ft x 4ft (1.2m x 1.2m) Lego model. "The children enjoyed doing the smaller details," said Mr Addis.

Lego Nutcracker soldier (left) and giant angel

In 2005 the family created their first giant model with an 8ft (2.4m) Nutcracker soldier. "This was probably our favourite model as it looked so good and suited the colours we had," said Mr Addis. In 2006 the family created a 9ft (2.7m) Angel of the South. "Ironically this is our least favourite model, as it took so long and it just didn't look right. We also ran out of Lego and had to borrow some from all our friends to finish it off."

The Addis family own about 150,000 Lego bricks. Work on the models starts each October so they are finished in time for Christmas. In 2008 they built Northamptonshire's Earls Barton church in the snow, standing 5ft (1.5m) high and 6ft (1.8m) wide. "I used to live near this church," said Mr Addis. "At this point the children [Tom, Holly and Christopher] were being forced into building. We had a rule that if they had friends around they had to complete two rows of Lego."

Giant Lego Christmas stocking (right) and a Dalek from Doctor Who

In 2010 the family created a traditional Christmas stocking, complete with Lego presents. As keen Doctor Who fans, in 2011 they built a Father Christmas Dalek. "This was the first time our Lego tradition went global," said Mr Addis. "Our Dalek appeared in blogs all over the world - probably in places that didn't know what a Dalek was - along with most of the national papers and local TV." The family marked the Olympics for Christmas 2012 with a 10ft (3m) Wenlock mascot.

Cambridgeshire

Christmas tradition built from Lego

Share this page

Related Stories

Services

About BBC News