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MEMBERTOU, N.S. — A Membertou woman has created a video compilation featuring hundreds of Christmas displays as a gift to people who are unable to leave their homes.

Christina Joe started filming what she calls “the magic of Christmas” several years ago, after losing her father two days before the holiday.

Christina Joe

The loss thrust Joe and her brother into the role of caretakers for their grandmother, who was bedridden.

“I just wanted to make Christmas happy for her,” said Joe, 39. “In order for her to see things, we’d have to record them out in the community.

“I’ve been doing this for years, I’d record all kinds of different things like the Christmas parade, and other things that people can’t get to. After she died I just continued to do it, because my grandmother wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get out.”

Joe’s grandmother, Francis Macdonald, had fostered a love of the season in her family by bundling them each year to go and see Christmas lights.

For her recent cellphone video compilation (running nearly 40-minutes in length), Joe spent about four or five hours each night for a couple of weeks driving around to places such as New Waterford, Glace Bay, Dominion and North Sydney.

In total, she estimates about 40 to 50 hours was spent searching for Christmas displays, with her fuel costs coming in at over $100.

But the final product is a video shared Wednesday on Facebook that features nearly 300 homes around the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, from larger residences to company houses.

“It was my joy to do that,” Joe said. “It’s beautiful and a lot of people are enjoying it.”

Joe said the experience of helping her grandmother has led to a career in the health-care field.

Two years ago, she graduated with a disability supports and services diploma from Nova Scotia Community College’s Marconi campus in Sydney.

She now works two jobs, including regular shifts at Breton Ability Centre as a residential care worker.

Joe said when she’s not working, she regularly posts videos to her YouTube channel ‘CheapskateGardener,’ which has close to 9,000 subscribers.

“I firsthand know that so many people in the community aren’t able to get out and they would enjoy those things as well,” she said. “And I’m all about inclusion.”

Sydney disabilities advocate Marcie Shwery-Stanley commended Joe’s efforts in making Christmas merrier for people who are ill or have mobility issues.

Marcie Shwery-Stanley

Shwery-Stanley said often people with disabilities are unable to partake in seasonal activities as a result of transportation barriers. She suggested the local Handi-Trans service consider offering a Christmas ride to its passengers.

“It’s nice that other people are thinking of those who are isolated and trying to make Christmas a happy time,” she said. “There’s not a lot of pleasures that people with disabilities are able to enjoy for various reasons.”

Joe said her grandmother kept a sharp mind until the day she died at age 88, and had benefitted greatly from being able to connect with the world on her tablet and through her Facebook account.

“She was quite savvy,” said Joe. “I know that my grandmother’s not the only savvy grandma in the world.”

Joe said she plans to continue filming Christmas lights to share online each year.

“I’ll continue to do it as long as I have a breath because it kind of makes me remember my nan,” she said.

Erin.pottie@cbpost.com