Santa pays an early visit to florist

Everyone knows at this time of year a very special person is writing a very special list.

That list is divided into two sections – the naughty and the nice.

Usually kids don’t get to see which side they appear on, but those in the Kilmarnock area have a chance to check after Santa shared his “nice” list with a businesswoman.

Karen Lindsay owns Flowers By Karen in the Ayrshire town.

Christmas is a busy time of the year for the florist and she even opens a special festive store next door to her usual shop in the run-up to December 25.

For the past couple of weeks, Karen has had a huge list of names in the shop window that has attracted lots of attention.

More than 700 local children’s names make up the nice list, after the mum asked parents via Facebook to send in their kids’ details.

Parents have been bringing their wee ones to the shop, telling them to keep an eye on their name, because if it disappears it means they’ve been bad and have transferred to the naughty list! As well as being fun, it’s also doing good. Karen has asked everyone whose kids are on the list to donate to Hillhouse, a social enterprise that supports local families experiencing hardship, including at Christmas time.

It sounds like a blooming great idea.