La Mirada

A La Mirada couple who spent hundreds of hours creating a Christmas display of candy canes, elves and reindeer in their front yard raised more than $1,300 from passing admirers for a Whittier crisis center.

Kris and Tom Wilkinson said several thousand people cruised past their Ramo Drive home or stopped to wander about the display, which cost the couple nearly $6,000 to create and took nearly 10 months to build.

The couple staged the Dickens-esque scene as a tribute to Kris’ son, Joey, who died last March in a motorcycle accident, and to raise money for the Whittier Women’s and Children’s Crisis Center.

Rather than accept donations to offset the display’s cost--and the $200 electrical bill generated by the scene’s 3,400 twinkling lights--the couple encouraged donations for the crisis center.

“The response was overwhelming,” said Kris Wilkinson. “There’s a lot of love that goes into this. It’s infectious and must continue.”