For my annual Christmas Countdown, I featured pictures of the Holidays at interesting places around the world …

🇫🇷 25 Days to Christmas … Galleries Lafayette, Paris’, France

🎅🏻 🌍 🇬🇧 24 Days to Christmas … Oxford Street, London UK; Oxford Street is home to some of London’s finest shopping, including Selfridges … 

⭐️😎🇯🇵 23 Days to Christmas … Shibuya Illumination, Tokyo, Japan; Japan celebrates Christmas as part of months-long Winter Illuminations … 

🎅🏻⭐️🇳🇴 22 Days to Christmas … Lillehammer, Norway; This little Norwegian city hosted the 1994 Winter Olympic Games …

🎅🏻⭐️🇺🇸 21 Days to Christmas …
Enchanted Christmas, Washington DC; This Christmas light show is held in the ballpark used by the Washington Nationals baseball team … 

🎄🎅🏻 🇩🇪 20 Days to Christmas … Christmas Market, Dresden, Germany
This Christmas Market is considered the oldest in Germany, dating back to 1434 …

🌺 🌟 🇲🇽 19 Days to Christmas … Mexico City; The Zocalo in Mexico City is set with an ice skating rink for the 9-day Los Posada (starting 12/16) through Three Kings Day (1/6) … 

🎅🏻🇩🇪⭐️ 18 Days to Christmas … Braunschweig, Germany – The glühwein is tailored to the setting, served with a shot of local bier!

🎅🏻⭐️🇨🇳 17 Days to Christmas … The Bund, Shanghai, China – Christmas traditions in China are relatively new and mainly celebrated as a shopping season …

🎅🏻⭐️🇨🇿 16 Days to Christmas … Prague, Czech Republic – The Christmas festivities in Prague extend from the Old Town Square to St. Wenceslas’ Square …

⭐️🎅🏻🇺🇸 15 Days to Christmas … Saint Augustine, Florida USA – The city’s “Nights of Lights” keeps everything lit until the end of January.

🎅🏻⭐️🇪🇸 14 Days to Christmas … Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain – Gorgeous walking district in Barcelona connects the main square with the sea …

🎅🏻⭐️🇬🇧 13 Days to Christmas… Fortnum & Mason, London, UK – Luxury retailer transformed their store into a giant advent calendar …

🎄🎅🏻🇺🇸 12 Days to Christmas … Rockefeller Center, New York City – St. Paul’s Paul Manship designed the ‘Prometheus’ sculpture under the NYC tree. He specialized in bringing classical sculpture into the Art Deco style.

🎄🎅🏻 🇫🇷 11 Days to Christmas … Strasbourg, France – The largest Christmas market in France is the one with the German name. Over 300 merchant stalls in the Alsace capital city.

🎅🏻⭐️🇺🇸 10 Days to Christmas …
Disneyland, Anaheim – Originally built for the 1964 Worlds Fair in NYC, Small World was moved to Anaheim and gets specially decorated for Christmas …

🎅🏻⭐️🇨🇦 9 Days to Christmas …
Old Quebec City, Canada – Parts of the old city in Quebec are 400 years old …

🎄🎅🏻🇧🇷 8 Days to Christmas …
Rio Lagoon, Brazil – This floating Christmas tree, with 3.3 million lights, is officially certified by Guinness World Records as the tallest of its kind in the world.

🎅🏻🇺🇸🌟 Just ONE WEEK to Christmas …
Galleria Skating Rink, Dallas, Texas – The largest mall in Texas debuted this 95’ tree for 2023. It has 217K lights!

🌟🌍🇪🇸 6 Days to Christmas – Andalusia, Spain – This city in southern Spain is decorated with angels throughout town. They herald 7 living nativity displays around the city.

🇮🇹 🎄⭐️ 5 Days to Christmas …
Gubbio, Umbria, Italy – this giant hillside tree is 2100 feet tall. In previous years, Pope Francis and Pope Benedict turned the switch on at the start of the season.

🇨🇭🌟🎄 4 Days to Christmas …
Zurich, Switzerland – The Christmas Market here has 140 stalls, open until 9pm every night. It’s near the station that serves 2,500 trains a day.

🇮🇹 ⭐️🎄 3 Days to Christmas … Colosseo, Rome, Italy – The Colosseum, once site of Christians being martyred, now sports a festive holiday tree …

🇦🇹🎅🏻🎄 2 Days to Christmas … Salzburg, Austria – The hills are alive at the holidays “with the sound of music …”

CHRISTMAS EVE – All Christian hearts are thinking of Bethlehem, on the West Bank, today. Festivities in Manger Square are canceled, but small numbers of pilgrims will still visit the ancient Church of the Nativity.

Merry CHRISTMAS & Happy NEW YEAR!