It doesn’t matter how you decorate your home for Christmas this year -- nothing can beat this.
In the little town of Newburgh, Fife in Scotland, instead of a towering douglas fir in the town square or oversized baubles lining the streets, residents take a different approach. Newburgh local Poppy McKenzie Smith shared on Twitter that, every year, "our village Christmas lights are designed by the local primary kids." In other words, elementary-aged kids draw a festive picture, which is then sent to a lights manufacturer and built into existence.
And it is, as Smith wrote, "the best thing about the festive season."
Smith shared photos of lights hung up throughout the town taking the shapes of an angel, reindeer, turkey and...is that...yes, that’s a gingerbread man.
Plus, Smith shared her personal favorite:
But that’s not all -- Smith tweeted that the light show acts as a little competition among the kiddos, with the winner getting the honor of flipping the switch when it’s time to light up the town. The runner-up amateur designer gets some recognition, as well.
This tradition is just too sweet for words, but Smith also let her followers know that Newburgh is having trouble getting the funds together to pull off the festive celebration this year; social distancing measures have hindered a lot of the fundraising efforts the residents usually organize. But spirits are still high and strides are being made to help the town keep the Christmas spirit -- and these kids’ creativity -- alive. A GoFundMe has been set up, and volunteers have been selling Christmas face masks and cards featuring kid-designed Christmas lights of years past.
"This year it has been made more difficult with the current pandemic and having to comply with all the social distancing rules for us as a committee to fundraise in the usual way," Lynsey Adams, from the Newburgh Action Group, told local publication The Courier. "But in the long run it has made us more determined as a community to show the true meaning of what community spirit is, to be able to put on the annual Christmas lights this year in the town."
The small town Christmas story Hallmark wishes it wrote.