A JOHNSTONE couple have made the town’s Christmas celebrations a little brighter, thanks to their dazzling Grinch-themed lights display.

Jamie-Max Caldwell and Paige Morris have decorated the front of their Hagg Crescent home with detailed wooden cut-outs of characters from children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss.

The superb setpiece shows the Grinch attempting to put an end to festivities by taking down the home’s Christmas lights, accompanied by his dog Max and Whoville resident Cindy Lou.

Also featured is a sign which reads ‘Welcome to Haggsville,’ two snow-covered lampposts and a signpost directing visitors to nearby villages such as ‘Elderslie Lair.’

Jamie-Max said the good-humoured display had attracted a lot of attention from the local community.

“We’ve noticed that cars have been slowing down when they pass the house,” he told The Gazette.

“The original goal was to create a display for Hallowe’en but that never came to fruition, so we decided to do something for Christmas instead.

“My brother John is a carpenter and he cut out the figures. I’m a part-time cartoonist, so I drew the characters and Paige painted them.

“The display turned out a lot better than we expected and I think it was because it was real team effort.

“The Grinch is a green monster that is trying to steal Christmas, which makes him quite similar to Covid, so that’s why we went with the Grinch theme this year.”

Earlier this year, 32-year-old trade unionist Jamie-Max used his art skills to pay tribute to NHS staff by drawing cartoons of frontline workers nominated by friends and family.

Now the couple, who moved to Hagg Crescent in April, are planning to make their festive display an annual tradition for the street.

Jamie-Max said: “Johnstone is an amazing community. Everyone is very friendly and you can tell people are making that extra effort to bring a bit of Christmas magic to the area.

“We want to do a different display every year, with possibly a Snoopy theme next year. We’re hoping to donate the Grinch display to a public space where it can benefit folk and be used to fundraise money for a good cause.”