Why I light up my garden for more than half the year

Sandra Lee Myles cheerfully admits that she has absolutely no idea just how many Christmas lights she actually owns.

The 44-year-old smiles as she says she only stopped putting them out in the family garden when she ran out of plugs and extension cords.

“I’m a big kid at heart so it gives me a lot of pleasure,” she says.

“It just puts smiles on people’s faces as they pass.”

December is the month she decorates the garden for Christmas but this follows on from her displays for autumn, then Halloween, Guy Fawkes night, Remembrance Day and St Andrew’s Day.

She will also change her lights for New Year, Burns’ Night, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Easter.

In total, she lights up her garden for more than half the year.

An array of Christmas decorations and lights in a garden. There are reindeer, holly wreaths and coloured garlands.

Sandra says she ran out of extension cords for all her lights this year [BBC]

Inflatable Christmas decorations on the lawn. There is a multi-coloured igloo with penguins, a red and white striped lamppost with parcels around its base and a white Christmas tree. A reindeer lights also sits on the grass.

Every year Sandra decorates her garden with an assortment of Christmas objects [BBC]

The house in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow has a prominent corner position and the lights mean it is a neighbourhood landmark.

It is something the community has now come to expect.

Sandra imagines that if the lights did not appear one year, people would be round asking if something was wrong.

“You do get a lot of positive feedback,” she says.

“We’ve had people come and chap our door to say, ‘do you mind if we take the kids in and have a wee walk about?’ That’s what it’s all about.”

An array of Halloween decorations, including inflatable ghosts, pumpkins and skeletons.

Her garden is decked out for every occasion [BBC]

Sandra says she picked up the tradition from her parents who started putting lights outside 25 years ago.

Her dad Gordon – who died last year – began decorating the garden at the millennium and the displays have grown every year since.

Sandra says her father is very much on her mind and she has even made a spot in the display honouring him with angels wings and the words “husband” and “dad”.

A metal sign that reads DAD HUSBAND with two angel wings, a star in the centre and strings of lights.

Sandra first began decorating the garden 25 years ago [BBC]

“He’s there, and he’s prominent for the community because he was a big part of this community,” she says.

Sadly, Sandra’s mum Liz died very recently.

While Sandra was a full-time carer for her mum she spent a lot of time at home, planning and putting the displays together, referring to her garden as her “sanctuary”.

Sandra Lee Myles and her mum Liz smile at the camera in the living room. They are wearing matching Christmas jumpers and there are different Christmas decorations and lights in the background.

Decorating the garden helps Sandra relax and she planned her displays while caring for her late mum Liz [BBC]

Sandra says she tries to buy something new each year to freshen up the display. The planning can start months in advance.

She sources decorations online, in supermarkets and in smaller shops where she says sometimes you find the “cutest, most weird and wonderful decorations”.

It is all part of the fun.

And for anyone worried about the electricity bills to come in January, a lot of decorations run on batteries and most of the lights are LEDs.

The bills, according to Sandra, are not too high and well worth it for the joy it brings her and those around her.