I turned on local Christmas lights the other night.
I didn't end up on the front page of any newspapers because of it, but I'm not sure whether this is due to flipping a switch not being a big deal, or because there wasn't a press photographer in my parent's kitchen.
Although I did have my photo taken with the Mayor at our Christmas Street Fair and didn't know it (was in a different costume with even less visibility). It didn't appear in the newspaper but is probably on our work website.
Couldn't you turn them off and have the ceremony all over again this time with the self timer involved? Presumably there's multiple chances to do this as they'll turn the lights off anyway before going to bed?