Festive inf latables row that really blew up
HAVING spent £220 decorating his front garden for Christmas, Billy Morgan was proud of how it looked.
He installed an inflatable Santa, inflatable snowman, twinkling icicle lights and three projectors to give the illusion the terrace house is covered in swirling snow
However his neighbours in Bridgwater, Somerset, took a very different view of his efforts to spread the spirit of Christmas.
Two days after he put up the decorations, Mr Morgan received a handwritten letter criticising his ‘ tacky, attention- seeking’ display and urging him to ‘tone it down’.
But the 38-year-old postman, who lives with his fiancee Claire Wood and their four children aged between five and 15, merely took the complaint as a challenge.
He went out and spent another £53 on extra lights and a 6ft inflatable elf. Mr Morgan attached an enlarged copy of the letter of complaint to the elf and even put out a box of Christmas sweets for his neighbours.
‘Whoever wrote that note obviously doesn’t know my mentality,’ he said. ‘Christmas is meant to be tacky, it’s meant to be bright and colourful and is for kids to have fun. When we put the lights on after a full day’s work putting everything up it was brilliant, it was worth the effort just to see the kids’ faces.’
The letter, written in capitals, was pushed through the door at 5.30pm on Tuesday. The person who delivered it had vanished by the time Mr Morgan reached the window to look out. ‘Writing and posting a note through my door like that is a real Scrooge thing to do, it’s not in the spirit of Christmas at all,’ he said.
‘I would have liked to have seen their faces when the additional lights went up. I will be putting a box of candy canes in front of the elf to spread some much-needed tacky Christmas joy. I’m just hoping they feel stupid and embarrassed. It’s certainly not put me off putting lights up in future, I’m going to go in the sales after Christmas and buy lots more for next year.’