Christmas celebrations around the world

Visitors drive Christmas lights display along North Avenue in Anderson, S.C. Friday, December 22, 2023.

Christian worshipers pray at the Grotto, under the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Day, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Monday, Dec. 25, 2023. Bethlehem is having a subdued Christmas after officials in Jesus' traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The Mission St. James Children's choir sings during the 2nd annual Misson St. James Lessons & Carols service inside Hub City Brewery, Jackson, Tenn., on Christmas Eve, Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023.

Volunteer Ariana Torres serves guests at the annual Christmas Family Feast Monday, December 25, 2023 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Salvation Army expected to serve a Christmas dinner to about 4,000 people. Besides meals, guests could get complimentary haircuts, socks, bus passes and gifts. It is the largest feeding event hosted by The Salvation Army on Christmas Day in the country.

Keston, 2, receives a toy from Gary P. Keith, Sr. as Santa Claus (grandfather of Keston) during the African American Association of Brockton 1st annual Toy Drive on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023.

Christian devotees hold candles during a midnight mass on Christmas Eve at the Bethany church in Surabaya, Indonesia.

A man dressed as Santa Claus walks with children through the streets of Havana on December 21, 2023. With a crisis like the one Cuba is currently facing, not all children's wishes can come true and parents have to do magic and juggle to get them toys for Christmas.

Scenes from the Martin County Christmas Boat Parade on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, at Sandsprit Park in Martin County, Fla.

Thousands of people showed up in Cocoa Beach, Fla. to watch hundreds of Surfing Santas take to the water Christmas Eve morning. The tradition started in 2009 when George Trosset and his son George Jr. went surfing in a Santa suit and an elf costume on Christmas Eve. Friends found out about it and joined them the next year. The event grew each year and now in its 15th year the event attracts thousands and has become a fund raiser for the Florida Surf Museum and Grind for Life, an organization that provides financial assistance to cancer victims.

People sing carols as they take part in Christmas Eve celebration in Lviv, on December 24, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainians attend Christmas Eve services as they prepare to celebrate Christmas Day on December 25 for the first time, after the government changed the date from the Orthodox Church observance of January 7 in a snub to Russia, on December 24, 2023.

U.S. Marine gunnery sergeant Marvin Hernandezgarcia gives a bike to to Aliyah Gonzalez, and her daughter Ayviana Tierrablanca on Santa Paula Way in Stockton for the Stockton Police Department and Stockton Police Youth Activities's 24rd annual Matt Smith Christmas Delivery Project on Dec. 23, 2023. This year's event delivered toys to 30 families effected by violent crime. More than 1,000 new toys and 200 bikes were collected by the department including a large donation from the United States Marine Corps Reserve's Toys For Tots program. In addition to the toys families also received food boxes. Police patrol vehicles, and volunteers cars made their way with light blazing and sirens and Christmas music blaring in 2 block-long convoys, one north the other south, through several Stockton neighborhoods. In addition to the families, gifts were given out to children and families who came out to see what the commotion was about.

Pope Francis blesses a family as he presides over Christmas eve Mass, at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday Dec. 24, 2023.

Garbage collectors from the municipality of Puente Alto dressed as Christmas characters collect tips while picking up the trash on Christmas Eve, in Santiago, Chile on December 23, 2023.