Most homeowners like to spruce up their properties to mark the festive season - often to keep up with their neighbours.
But for one household in Germany, getting out the Christmas decorations has become serious business.
Rolf Vogt's house in Calle has become a local attraction after he decorated it with more than 400,000 lights to celebrate yuletide.
The stunning display, which features the word Frohes Fest - German for 'Merry Christmas', costs thousands of Euros to maintain every year.
Visitors are greeted with wine and bratwurst and the Vogt family use the profits to pay for some of the lights.
Mr Vogt, who cuts down shrubs as early as July to create space for the lights, keeps the display alight every evening from late November until late December.
He said he was inspired to create the spectacle during a trip to the US fifteen years ago.
He said: "The idea comes from the year 1999 - we were in America in December with our son and spent a whole night going round, about eight hours, and looked at the houses.
"There was one more beautiful than the others. From that came the idea to go straight to WalMart, pack two travel bags of lights and come back."
