FILE - A boy runs toward a model train illuminated with holiday lights in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)
As 2025 winds down, holiday lights are illuminating communities around the world, transforming familiar landmarks into scenes of shared wonder. From glowing waterfronts to streets and public spaces bathed in festive color, places shimmer with light and a shared sense of joy.
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
FILE – Visitors look at the installations on display along the Christmas light trail at Kew Gardens in London, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)FILE – People watch a multimedia light show cast on the facade of the General Staff Building, as part of the Country of Light festival at Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)FILE – People visit the holiday lights display at the Cheekwood Estate and Gardens in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)FILE – People gather for a concert during a tree lighting event at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli, File)FILE – An illuminated giant frame is set up at the Christmas market for visitors to make souvenir photos of themselves, in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)FILE – A menorah is lit to celebrate Hanukkah in Trafalgar Square, London, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)FILE – Lego portraits of both President George Washington and President Donald Trump decorate the Green Room as part of the White Christmas theme “Home is Where the Heart Is,” during a press preview in Washington, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)FILE – A child rides on a merry-go-round at a Christmas fair in Bucharest, Romania, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File)FILE – A home is decked out in holiday lights and Christmas decorations in Strongsville, Ohio, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)FILE – Holiday lights adorn a roadway at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort on light-up night in Farmington, Pa., Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)FILE – A person walks past a display of holiday lights on a building at a park in Lenexa, Kan., Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)FILE – Gabriel Taylor, center, sprays other children with bubbles at Sundance Square after a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, in Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)FILE – In a timed exposure, vehicles pass a pair of cowboys boots standing 40 feet tall and 30 feet long, decorated with lights for the holidays, in San Antonio, Tex., Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)FILE – Herbum, a grass tuft with stems that stretch skyward, is on display as part of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lightscape holiday event in Glencoe, Ill., Nov. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)FILE – The Eiffel Tower is framed by Christmas tree decorations that adorn the Les Galeries Lafayette department store rooftop in Paris, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)FILE – A woman poses for a selfie inside a giant Christmas ornament illuminated with holiday lights in Dakar, Senegal, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu, File)FILE – The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands illuminated after the 93rd annual tree lighting ceremony in New York, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)FILE – Lights illuminate the Christmas market at the Gendarmenmarkt square in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)FILE – Media art illuminates the facade of Gwanghwamun, the main gate of the 14th-century Gyeongbok Palace, during Seoul Winter Festa in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)FILE – Holiday lights are reflected in a rain-soaked plaza in Makati, Philippines, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)FILE – A performer attends a light show at Ala-Too Square decorated for the New Year and Christmas festivities in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin, File)FILE – A man playfully tosses a child in the air as visitors walk through the Winter Cathedral light display at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Lightscape holiday event in Glencoe, Ill., Nov. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)FILE – People listen to a concert amid a rainfall during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Syntagma Square, in Athens, Greece, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)FILE – People walk along Kabatas ferry terminal decorated with lights for the holidays, in Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)FILE – People walk across a bridge decorated with strands of holiday lights at a Christmas fair in Bucharest, Romania, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru, File)FILE – In this timed exposure a man is silhouetted against holiday lights as he walks by in Lenexa, Kan., Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
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