You can control this delightful model Christmas village powered by three Pis

We’ve covered a ton of Raspberry Pi projects over 2024, most of which you can build yourself at home. But what about something you can control at home, with no building required? If you want to see a fun Raspberry Pi Christmas project but don’t want to hit the workbench over the holiday period, why not check out this cool village powered by three Raspberry Pis and a whole lot of cheer?

This interactive Christmas village is powered by Pis

As posted on the Raspberry Pi subreddit, user u/Wafflyn took some time to show off their amazing village. They state that this is something they do every year, but this is the first time I’ve caught their little project, and I’m glad I did.

If you’d like to see the village in action, head over to the Christmas Village website. The YouTube stream shows everything working away from different angles, but you can still toy around with the village using the buttons at the top. The “controls” section enables and disables each element, while the “light shows” part makes the building lights flash in specific patterns.

Here’s where each Raspberry Pi does its job in this marvelous project:

I use a total of 3 raspberry Pi’s:

Main Camera – Pi Zero 2W with HQ Camera sensor & wide angle lens

python camera script w/ raspivid + ffmpeg -> rtmp

Train Camera – Pi Zero W with v2 camera

python camera script w/ raspivid + ffmpeg -> rtmp

North pole entrance cam

basic usb webcam to OBS

Relay Controller – Pi 3

8 channel relay & python

And if this has gotten you in the spirit to make something, why not try out the new official Raspberry Pi Monitor?