A grandmother who was left disabled after a devastating car crash says her annual Christmas display is helping her battle her debilitating pain.
Michelle John, 50, was seriously injured in 2005 when a road smash aggravated her spinal condition and left her only able to walk short distances.
Ms John, who has five children and five grandchildren, has been decorating her home in Cardiff with eye-catching festive displays every Christmas for 19 years.
With the help of her children, Ms John began decorating her home at the end of September, and only finished the job one week ago.
But she says transforming her home every Christmas has taken on more purpose in recent years as she battles increasing ill health.
She said: “Doing this with my family keeps me going, it really brings the light back to me.
“I suffer with sickness and severe arthritis every day.
“With my pain I only ever have bad days or bad, bad days. So when I hear children laughing, or people stopping to say how much they love what we’ve done, it does bring me and my family happiness.
“The only thing is the electricity bills during December. But to be honest I don’t like to keep track of them, I prefer to ignore it and just enjoy what we’ve done.
“Every year is a different theme. We’ve done many, many themes. And this year is The Nutcracker theme so all the nutcrackers are out.”
Michelle’s terraced home in Llandaff North currently features animatronic deer, inflatable snowmen, and hundreds of different Christmas light decorations throughout.
She was diagnosed with scoliosis of the lower spine before she was involved in the car crash, which aggravated the condition and temporarily left her unable to stand up straight.
Ms John lives with 18-year-old daughter Jessica, who with her siblings helped put together this year’s display from her mother’s hand-drawn designs.
