The Hull Daily Mail is running a Christmas Lights competition to find the best-decorated home in East Yorkshire. Today, Mike Carter tells us about decorating his house in west Hull.
CHRISTMAS is all about bringing people joy and that is what Mike Carter tries to do with his festive display.
Mr Carter, 29, first started by decorating his grandmother's west Hull home in the Christmas of 2000.
Although she no longer wants her house decorated, he has carried on covering his house from top to bottom with lights for the neighbourhood children.
He said: "Christmas is an important time of year. I like to see the children's faces when they see the lights.
"They are all still young, so still believe in Father Christmas, that makes it all the better really."
Mr Carter lives next door to his grandmother with his wife, Gemma, and three children in Westlands Road and used to string lights across the front of both houses.
He said: "My favourite decoration is the Santa on the chimney, saying 'Ho, ho, ho', it's good for the kids. There's also a ladder going up to it, so it looks like he's climbing up and going down the chimney."
Mrs Carter, 27, said the couple's three children, Declan, eight, Dylan, seven, and Destiny, four, all love the displays.
She said: "It's just that Christmas feeling. They love it when Mike starts putting the decorations up, they will even help him carry all the stuff out of the garage so he can start."
Mr Carter used to buy extra decorations each year but has said the changing nature of light displays is making life difficult for him.
He said: "I'm finding it harder to get hold of new decorations. I use the rope lights but they seem to be getting phased out for the LED stuff."
Mrs Carter takes charge of decorating the inside of the house and said she has a more "traditional" approach than her husband.
She does, however, admit she is a fan of her husband's handiwork and enjoys how their home becomes the centre of the community for the festive season.
"People always want us to have our lights on," she said.
It is a difficult and, more importantly, an expensive job to maintain the display, putting £100 on the electricity bill.
But it is all worth it, Mr Carter says.
"I enjoy doing it for the kids, I like their reactions. It makes it worth going up the ladder in the freezing cold."
Winning the Mail's competition would be nice, he said, but that is not the reason he does it.
He said: "Without sounding daft, I'm a bit shy in that respect, I just like to do it for the kids."
• A shortlist of the best homes will be judged by staff at Coletta and Tyson and the Hull Daily Mail. The winner will be unveiled on Christmas Eve. To take part, email a photograph of your home, with your name and contact number to news@mailnewsmedia.co.uk, or visit our Facebook page.