FL Holiday Display Features 14-Foot Godzilla On Roof Damaged By Milton

LAKELAND, FL — When Jeff Cayer and his wife, Jennifer, decorate their Lakeland home for the holidays each year, the decor is usually fairly demure.

Think simple white lights adorning the front of their home, Cayer told Patch. “We are very subtle … and normally very, very, very conservative with our lighting.”

But this year, the couple, both educators, decided to “go big” after Hurricane Milton ravaged their home in October, destroying part of their roof.

On top of their home, which is located at 1836 Tristram, is a 14-foot-high inflatable Godzilla crushing the part of the roof affected by the storm. There’s also a single strand of colorful rainbow lights along the roof’s edge.

“All the lights are perfect along the entire roof line, except where Godzilla is,” Cayer said. “There the lights are dangling and hanging.”

On the ground, in their front yard, is an inflatable Santa with a slingshot poised to fling presents at the giant green monster.

“No charities. No synchronized music. Just Santa slingshotting presents at a Godzilla on a crushed house,” he said, adding, “It ain’t much, but some people like the creative lights.”

The couple has lived in the home, where they raised their two daughters, who are now adults, for more than 30 years.

Their house was the only home on their street to sustain such extensive damage during Milton.

One of “two beautiful oak trees” in the front yard split and landed on the front of the house, crushing it, Cayer said. It took out their front porch and their garage, although the rest of the home remains livable.

After the storm, both trees were removed and their stumps ground down. The grass out front is also torn up.

“Our house looks terrible and our yard looks terrible. We decided to highlight the fact that our house looks terrible,” he said. “We decided to make it look like a disaster scene.”

Godzilla already blew off their roof once this season when the screws became loose, causing the inflatable to fly off the home on Monday.

“A neighbor came over and said to us, ‘Santa one, Godzilla zero',” Cayer said. “We fastened it back up quickly.”

With so much damage caused by hurricanes across the Tampa Bay area this year, he imagines his home’s holiday light display will resonate with many.

The home is on a cul-de-sac, which means "we don't have traffic," he added. “So nobody comes to the house to see lights, but we’ve already had people driving down the street.”

Cayer welcomes anybody to drive by to check out the display.

“We’re just representing the Christmas spirit and all that. This year it’s all colors and a 14-foot Godzilla,” he said. “It’s totally different from any other light display they’ll see.”