Raymond Bochenek and his wife Anna both work at the ATO.

Every year for the last 23 or 24 years, Raymond has placed an ad in The Canberra Times on his wife's birthday – October 19.

Over the years the ads have become more and more elaborate, moving from the classifieds to display ads in the news pages, as happened last Wednesday.

And with the arrival of their daughters, Heidi, now 19, and Madelene, now 17, the kids have taken centre stage in the ads.

"It started out with just a little poem and picture," Raymond said. Sigh.

So he must class himself as a romantic?

"I think so," he said.

The Giralang family has saved all the papers the ads have appeared in and it's always a special surprise for Anna where the ad will appear.

"She loves it," Raymond said.