Photo Credit: Addis Family

Many families have fun traditions during this time of the year. Some decorate the tree together, while others bake cookies. For the Addis family, it involves building giant Lego structures, a ritual that began 18 years ago when their first son Tom was born.

Over the years, the family who lives in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, have built a giant Santa Claus, an angel, a church, a group of choir boys and even, a Victorian postbox. However this year, the family which now includes 15-year old Holly and 13-year old Christopher has deviated from their Christmas theme and instead, created a Dalek - an extra terrestrial mutant from the British science fiction television series, Dr. Who. To make it appear a little less ominous they did add a Santa hat to their version,

Photo Credit: Addis Family

While the structure was not in keeping with their usual Christmas theme, the amount of effort it took to build was the same - Over seven weeks of painstaking Lego stacking. And, while Mike and Catherine did the bulk of the construction, spending more than 100 hours each, their three kids did their bit too - adding a couple of rows to the structure each evening, as part of their chores.

Mike and Catherine, who add to their collection by buying Lego bricks by the kilo (2.2 lbs) from eBay each year, estimate that their collection of over half a million Lego bricks is worth over $15,000USD.

Photo Credit: Addis Family

Besides being a fun family project, the Lego model also provides the perfect background for the family's Christmas picture every year and, a great memory for future years.

That's because come January 6th, the Addis family and some their friends will have a have a stacking party where they will knock the Dalek over, painstakingly take apart the bricks and store them into neat piles, until next year!

Source: DailyMail.co.uk, cambridge-news.co.uk