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| Pope Francis celebrates Mass on Christmas Eve at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, marking the birth of Jesus Christ. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI |
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| A woman cradles her child while attending Christmas Eve services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the Manhattan borough of New York City. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky |
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| Christians attend Christmas Eve services at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the Manhattan borough of New York City. REUTERS |
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| George Trosset Jr. and George Trosset, who started surfing in Santa and Christmas costumes 10 years ago behind their house on Christmas Eve, high five each other during the 10th annual Surfing Santas event at Cocoa Beach, Florida, Tuesday. The event has grown and now raises money for two local non-profits ― Grind for Life, which provides financial help for cancer patients, and the Florida Surf Museum. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP) |
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| "Waterskiing Santa," with his bag full of toys for children, makes his annual Christmas Eve appearance with one of his "reindeer" on the Potomac River along the Alexandria, Virginia, waterfront. REUTERS/Mike Theiler |
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| A couple in Santa hats take a selfie as crowds flocked to the inner-city beach of St Kilda for Christmas Day celebrations in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) |
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| A Christmas tree decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations in front of a Stalin-era skyscraper, now the Radisson Hotel, in Moscow, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) |
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| People visit a church on Christmas Eve in Yangon, Myanmar. (Xinhua/U Aung) |
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| Friends follow a holiday tradition by gathering under about 10,000 lights decorating Bob's Garage in O'Hara Township, Pennsylvania, Tuesday. From left are Erica Lelis, Katie McGregor and Jack Ingraham. The three are part of a group that for nearly two decades has gathered at the bar each year on the day before Christmas. The small bar is famous for its light display, which takes two weeks to install. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP) |
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| An anti-government demonstrator walks past tear gas on Christmas Eve in Hong Kong. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu |
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| Riot police stand guard during a rally in a shopping mall in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Police fired multiple rounds of tear gas in the tourist district of Tsim Sha Tsui on Christmas Eve after clashes broke out inside a shopping mall as a large number of protesters joined a "Christmas shopping" rally. Hong Kong has entered its seventh month of mass protests, which were originally triggered by a now withdrawn extradition bill, and have since turned into a wider pro-democracy movement. EPA/JEROME FAVRE |
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| Police guide tourists across the road as they prepare for action against protesters during a rally on Christmas Eve in Hong Kong. More than six months of protests have beset the city with frequent confrontations between protesters and police. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) |
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| U.S. service members deliver Christmas gifts to their comrades on a base near the al-Omar oilfield in eastern Syria on Monday. The operation is called Holiday Express. In addition to delivering presents, the U.S.-led coalition forces brought a U.S. military band to play Christmas carols and music at several bases in eastern Syria. (AP Photo/Farid Abdul-Wahid) |
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| A U.S. soldier carries Christmas gifts from a helicopter to deliver to his comrades on a base near the al-Omar oilfield in eastern Syria on Monday. (AP Photo/Farid Abdul-Wahid) |
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| Clergymen participate in Christmas celebrations Tuesday outside the Church of the Nativity, built atop the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) |
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| The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrives at the Church of the Nativity, built atop the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) |
