A family from Carlton are helping to spread some Christmas cheer by decorating their house with thousands of lights. Dan Sandy, 48, has lit up his house in Foxhill Road with 3 to 4,000 lights and 12 inflatables.
They have been decorating the front of their house for four years but it has grown each year. Sales worker Dan said: "It started off with a few decorations on the front and built up from there. Every year adding to it more and more, finding bargains in January sales and Amazon.
"Over the years it has just been getting bigger and bigger to the point this year it has just gone really big." Dan and his wife Kate, 39, have created a Facebook page to share photos as well as gain feedback from the community.
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The couple and their two children decorate their home as much as they can. The house gets transformed at Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day and for the Queen's Jubilee earlier this year. Dan added: "Any excuse!"
With the rising cost of energy bills, Dan and Kate have cut down the hours the Christmas lights will be on. Usually, they ran from 8am to 10pm every day, now they are on from lunctime until 10pm on weekends and from 4-10pm on weekdays.
Dan said: "We pay extra throughout the year, we knew with the increase of electric and everything that it was going to cost a bit more. At Halloween we did it for an extra two weeks and it cost us an extra £20 to £30. It is affordable and it doesn't matter we pay extra because we want to do it. We have cut down at times."
The family gets a positive reaction from the Carlton community. Dan added: "The neighbours love it, they just think we are barmy. They are great. It is always nice when people comment they always like it when they drive past and it makes them smile.
"We had a Christmas card last year from someone in the neighbourhood thanking us for making their Christmas and putting the lights up. It is nice to know that people like it.
"There are always going to be people that moan and that's life. The people around us enjoy it and it makes us feel good that the kids when they stop and smile. It is nice, it is a warm feeling when people give positive feedback on it."
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