While the rest of Tauranga is busily getting ready for Christmas, John Drummond is spending his spare moments – about two months to be exact – putting festive lights up on Welcome Bay Rd.

The Welcome Bay Vet Clinic owner and his extensive display of sparkling cats and dogs are always a favourite with kids – big and little – on the Christmas Light Trail.

The display started off small. 'The first year was just a husky dog pulling a sled, with a Santa cat in it.”

John makes the displays himself, with a little help from a friend, out of aluminium, and his early designs were 'challenging”.

'I used the normal lights, followed the silhouette, and strapped the lights to it. Then I turned it on – and it was awful. At night, it looked like a mess.”

Rope lights became available the following year, which worked well. He then created a whole series of animated designs.

Every year John says he's not making any more, because of the work involved.

'Then every year, I make another one at the last minute. The welder rolls his eyes and says: ‘You've had all year to do this'.”

A dog cocking his leg is a favourite with kids. 'You see them standing cocking their leg, having their photo taken.”

There's a lot of light-testing and replacing to do before John gets on the roof.

'If I'm a bit late getting them out people start asking about them, saying: ‘I have my grandkids coming to stay – it's their special treat'. It is a chore, but I can't not do it now.”

With the increased power bill each year, one wonders why John doesn't use solar powered lights.

'We tried it one year. There was a big chain of 600, I checked them all beforehand, and threaded them all over the roof – and I hate heights.”

That night, they didn't turn on.

'I presumed I'd damaged the wiring, so I pulled them all down and had them sitting in a pile in the back yard. When I checked on them that night, they were all going.”

On the roof, because there were so many other lights and the display was so bright, the solar panel wasn't registering when night fell.

And John's lights have only fallen victim to vandals once.

'I was particularly upset as it [a damaged light] was a candy cane my daughter Amy and vet nurse Anna made for me as a surprise. It was taken the second weekend, and a lot of the wires were cut.”

The vandals wrecked a lot of lights while stealing the candy cane, but Amy graciously says John remade the candy cane 'far better than our original”.

'I did make a more substantial one,” says John, while the women laugh in the background.

To give credit where it is due, Joh says of the designs: 'If it's basic, I've drawn it. If it's fancy, my Amy has done it”.

The Christmas light display is at 58 Welcome Bay Rd.