Image Gallery Captions - Possible To Use HTML In Description Area

I've got a simple javascript image gallery I'm using, but I was wondering if it would be possible to use HTML in the description area. Basically I want to be able to create paragraphs, bold text, and links in the description area. Is it possible? Here's what I'm using:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function showPic (whichpic) {
if (document.getElementById) {
document.getElementById('placeholder')
.src = whichpic.href;
if (whichpic.title) {
document.getElementById('desc')
.childNodes[0].nodeValue = whichpic.title;
} else {
document.getElementById('desc')
.childNodes[0].nodeValue = whichpic.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
}
return false;
} else {
return true;
}}
</script>

Then the markup:
<img id="placeholder" src="images/twoBottles.jpg" alt="" /> (Where the image appears)
<p id="desc">Choose an image to begin</p> (Where the image descriptions appear)
<a onclick="return showPic(this)" href="images/condiments.jpg" title="The description which in some cases is 2 or 3 paragraphs long and I would like to format somehow">two bottles</a> (clicking this text opens that picture in the image area).