A young girl recently got the shock of her life when she discovered a stowaway in her Christmas tree - and it's probably one of the purest stories to ever come across our desk.
Ten-year-old India Newman, from Georgia, US, had been admiring her family Christmas tree, inspecting the pretty lights and perusing the baubles when she spotted an extremely life-like owl ornament.
Then, in what must be the most terrifying-come-joyous surprise to ever occur, the owl turned its head to look at her.
Running into the dining room where mum Katie Newman was sat, the little girl said: "Mama, that ornament scared me!"
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Speaking to CNN, the mum explained: "She comes very dramatically into the dining room and goes, 'Mama, that ornament scared me,' then she bursts into tears."
It would make sense, considering Katie is a fan of owls and even had some actual owl baubles hanging in the tree.
"And I'm like, 'Oh, that's a real owl'," said Katie.
The little fella must have got muddled whenever it had flown into the home, and set up shop in the nearest tree it could find. Our hearts.
After discovering the owl, the family turned off all the lights in order to "initiate owl removal" but the little guy was nowhere to be found.
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They then decided to open the back doors by the tree and go to bed. At 1.30 in the morning, Katie's husband Billy went downstairs to find the adventurous bird roosting at the top the tree on the star. Amazing.
The following morning, the owl appeared to be gone, until India later spotted him in a different part of the tree just after breakfast.
The family decided to call wildlife services for help and a Wildlife Tech from Chattahoochee Nature Center in Newnan advised them on how to 'contain' the owl.
"She is going to come all the way to Newnan tomorrow morning to evaluate him. If he's ok, we will release him outside .... if he's hurt, she will tell us where we can take him for rehab," explained Katie in a Facebook post.
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An expert advised the family to feed the owl some raw chicken and travelled down to rescue the bird the following day.
When it was assessed, the feathered friend was found to be an Eastern screech owl, which are native to the area.
The wildlife service also found the bird to be thinner than usual, possibly confirming the family's suspicions it had been brought it when they got their tree just after Thanksgiving (which took place on 28th November 2019).
After its checks, the bird was safely released back into the world where we're picturing him reuniting with his bird family in heartwarming scenes.
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Kate still thinks she can hear the owl at night occasionally.
*Adds live owl to Christmas list immediately*.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Katie NewmanTopics: Christmas, Life News, Life