A FREAK household accident during the festive period almost cost a young girl her left foot.

Parents Stuart and Ali Houlgate, of Tang Hall, in York, waited as surgeons performed a delicate two-hour operation on their daughter Rebecca.

On Christmas Eve, the eight-year-old tripped on flex from fairy lights while running into the living room, then brought her foot down on to a pint glass.

The glass pierced Rebecca's left foot, near the toes, and severed the tendon to her big toe.

"I was very shocked and it hurt a lot. I went grey and I was crying," said Rebecca.

An ambulance took her to York Hospital. A doctor made sure the bleeding had stopped, before admitting Rebecca to a ward where she underwent an operation, under general anaesthetic, early on Christmas Day.

Mr and Mrs Houlgate arranged for Father Christmas to take their daughter's presents to the hospital so she could open them when she woke up. But the anaesthetic left her so drowsy that she could not open the presents until later that night.

The operation was a success, and Rebecca's foot is healing, although she faces up to a month in plaster.