Christmas countdown

Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday, which turns it into a long weekend in most countries that treat December 25 as a public holiday. In 2027 it is a Saturday, and many employers in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia move the day off to the following Monday or Tuesday. 2028 brings it back to a Monday, then Tuesday in 2029 and Wednesday in 2030. A date moves forward by one weekday each year, or by two after a February 29, which is why 2028 skips from Saturday straight to Monday.

Christmas Eve on December 24 is the main celebration in Germany, Poland, Scandinavia and much of Latin America, where presents are opened in the evening. The UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand also have Boxing Day on December 26.

Because the countdown uses local midnight, Christmas arrives first in Kiribati's Line Islands at UTC+14 and last in American Samoa at UTC−11, about a day later. Sydney and Auckland celebrate in early summer, often with lunch outdoors, while the northern hemisphere is approaching its shortest days.

Orthodox churches in Russia, Serbia, Ethiopia and Egypt that keep the Julian calendar celebrate on January 7, which is December 25 in that calendar. Several Orthodox churches, including those of Greece and Romania, use a revised calendar and celebrate on December 25 with everyone else. To count the days to a party, a flight home or the last postal date, the days between dates calculator works with any two dates.

Retail calendars treat Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving, as the start of the season, and Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, between November 27 and December 3. Postal services publish last posting dates for international parcels in late November or early December; the countdown above is a simple way to see how many shopping days you still have.