Almond Avenue, Kidlington, residents Geoff Ayres and Linda Nicholls spend about three days putting up their festive lights.

They join neighbours Peter Horsley and David and Julie Oliver to form a trio of colourful homes.
Mr Nicholls, 62, said: “It’s just a bit Christmassy, we know people drive up and down to look at them. It makes us happy.”

Asked about the bill for bringing electric cheer to residents, he laughed: “I don’t even look at it.”

Cowley Road’s Doreen Wilde, 69 and neighbour of 37 years Joan Blackstop, 75, have been lighting up their homes for 10 years.

Mrs Wilde – who estimated the electricity costs £1 a day on her key meter – said: “I started off soon after my husband died. I had young grandchildren then and they liked the lights.

“Nobody seemed to be doing it, I thought ‘let’s just go mad and do it together’ and that is what we have done ever since.

“It is cheerful, it brightens it up, people say it gives them a smile.”

Ellen Cocking hopes the nativity scene at her Aysgarth Road, Yarnton home will remind people of the origins of Christmas.

The 60-year-old spent a weekend putting up the decorations with husband Steve, 57.
She said: “My husband has it to a fine art now.

“We like it because we want to bring a smile to peoples’ faces and make them happy.

“We want people to know the true meaning of Christmas, that it is about Jesus’s birth.”

Tony and Pat Ayris have raised thousands in donations for Katharine House Hospice through decorations at their New Street, Bicester home.

She said: “It makes Bicester a brighter place.”