Showing a little festive spirit paid off for a Kirby Cross resident when he won some bubbly in This Is Essex's Christmas lights competition.

Kai and Denise with the bottle of Champagne they won in This Is Essex's Christmas lights competition

Website boss Simon Leek visited Kai Svvennsen on Friday to deliver his prize - a bottle of vintage Champagne.

This Is Essex, the county's leading local news website, ran a competition at Christmas inviting people to submit pictures of their homes festooned with festive decorations.

Kai was one of dozens of homeowners who entered, but said he was surprised to have had his name pulled out of the hat.

"I didn't expect to win," he confessed, adding: "Still, we'll have an even bigger and better display next year. The only problem is, we're running out of places to put them!"

Kai said he buys more sets of lights each January when they are put in the sale, to keep costs down. This year's sets took him at least three days to put up.

Having run out of space at the front of his bungalow, he has started putting up lights at the back of his house, too - which provides a nice view for him and wife Denise when they relax in their newly-installed hot tub in the back garden!

The bottle of Champagne isn't the only gift Kai's lights have earned him this Christmas, either.

"People ask me why I bother with all this trouble," he said, "but here's why..."

Published Monday January 12, 2004