Merry Christmas
Every second, a little closer
Around the world
Most of the world celebrates on 25 December, but what actually happens varies a lot from place to place. Here's how nine countries do it.
Christmas markets have filled German town squares since the late Middle Ages. Dresden's Striezelmarkt dates back to 1434. At home, families light one more candle on the Advent wreath each Sunday, and children open a door of their Advent calendar every morning from 1 December.
For nine nights, from 16 to 24 December, neighbours re-enact Mary and Joseph's search for a place to stay. Processions go from door to door singing, and are let in at the last house for warm ponche, tamales and a star-shaped piñata.
Carols start playing in September, the first of the "ber" months. From 16 December, many Filipinos attend Simbang Gabi, nine masses held before dawn. Glowing star lanterns called parol hang in windows, and the Noche Buena feast begins on Christmas Eve.
Christmas isn't a national holiday in Japan, but Christmas Eve is a favourite evening for couples. Since a 1974 advertising campaign, millions of families order fried chicken for Christmas dinner, followed by a sponge "Christmas cake" topped with cream and strawberries.
From 12 December, a mischievous Yule Lad arrives each night, leaving a small gift in a shoe on the windowsill, or a potato if a child misbehaved. On Christmas Eve, Icelanders swap books and spend the night reading. They call it Jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood.
On 13 December, in the darkest part of the year, a girl dressed in white and wearing a crown of candles leads a procession of singers. Homes, schools and offices celebrate with coffee and saffron buns called lussekatter.
Italian children wait until 6 January, the Epiphany, for La Befana, a kind old witch who flies on a broomstick and fills stockings with sweets, or coal for the naughty. Before that, nativity scenes are on show everywhere, most famously on Naples' Via San Gregorio Armeno.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church follows the old Julian calendar, so Christmas, called Ganna, falls on 7 January. Many people dress in white cotton shawls for services that last through the night, and boys play a hockey-like game also called ganna.
In the southern hemisphere, Christmas comes at the height of summer, so it's often celebrated on the beach or around a barbecue, with seafood and pavlova for dessert. Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight has been held on Christmas Eve since 1938.
From Rome to the North Pole
Nicholas, a bishop in Myra (now in Turkey), becomes known for secret acts of generosity. Centuries later, his legend turns into Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas and Santa Claus.
The earliest surviving record of 25 December as Jesus's birthday appears in a Roman calendar. The Bible gives no date. Historians still debate whether the choice was linked to winter solstice festivals.
Decorated evergreen trees appear in German homes, lit with candles and hung with apples, nuts and paper roses.
The poem A Visit from St. Nicholas ("'Twas the night before Christmas") gives Santa his sleigh, his eight reindeer and his chimney entrance.
Charles Dickens publishes A Christmas Carol. The same year, Henry Cole has the first commercial Christmas card printed in London.
A London newspaper prints Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children around a Christmas tree, and the custom spreads across Britain and America.
Thomas Nast's drawings for Harper's Weekly give Santa his North Pole workshop and his list of children's behaviour.
On the Western Front, soldiers on both sides call an unofficial Christmas truce, sing carols and meet in no man's land.
Haddon Sundblom's paintings for Coca-Cola make the warm, red-suited Santa famous. The red suit itself was already common long before.
Use the countdown
The days go faster than you think. This simple plan spreads the work out, so Christmas week is for enjoying.
Set a budget and write your gift list. Knowing who you're buying for stops last-minute panic buying.
Book any travel. Train and flight prices usually climb as December gets closer.
Advent begins. Put up decorations, and post cards and parcels going abroad, since international delivery takes longest.
Place your last online orders, and check your delivery company's Christmas cut-off dates. Book a food delivery slot if you need one.
Wrap presents, buy food that keeps, and plan when to thaw a frozen turkey. A large one needs several days in the fridge.
Everything's done. Light the candles, put on a film and watch the countdown reach zero.
From the kitchen
Good to know
The Bible doesn't give a date. By 336 the church in Rome was celebrating on 25 December. One theory is that it was nine months after 25 March, the traditional date of the Annunciation; another is that it matched existing winter solstice festivals. Historians still debate it.
Several Orthodox churches, including those in Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Egypt and Ethiopia, still use the older Julian calendar for church dates. In this century it runs 13 days behind the calendar most of the world uses, so their 25 December falls on 7 January.
Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, so it lasts between 22 and 28 days depending on which day of the week Christmas falls. Advent calendars usually simplify this and start on 1 December.
The twelve days run from Christmas Day, 25 December, to 5 January, known as Twelfth Night. They end with the Epiphany on 6 January, which is traditionally when decorations come down.
It uses your device's own clock, so it reaches zero at midnight on Christmas morning wherever you are. On 26 December it starts counting to next Christmas.
Friday
Merry Christmas