Today, Sputnik takes a look at this year's Christmas celebrations in different corners of the world.
A Tahitian dancer poses next to people taking part in the traditional Christmas swim in Monaco.
Indonesian Christians attend a Christmas Eve service at a church in Surabaya, East Java province.
3/25
© Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich
People attend Christmas Eve Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary, Moscow.
German tourists Mimi Wiebeling (L) and Pauline Lapetite wearing Christmas hats carry surfboards on Christmas Day, Sydney's Bondi Beach, Australia.
5/25
© AP Photo / Eranga Jayawardena
A family takes photographs near an enormous artificial Christmas tree as others gather around it in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Pope Francis kisses a statue of baby Jesus at the end of the Christmas night Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
7/25
© AP Photo / Mindaugas Kulbis
A girl poses for a photo in front of Lithuania's biggest Christmas tree during a Christmas celebration at Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania
8/25
© Sputnik / Stanislav Savelyev
Parishioners during Christmas mass at the Cathedral of the Intercession of our Lady Queen of Holy Rosary in Tomsk, Russia.
9/25
© AP Photo / Cengiz Yar
Iraqi forces guard the entrance of the Assyrian Orthodox Church of Mart Shmonito during Christmas Eve Mass, Bartella, Iraq.
A man dressed as Santa Claus decorates Christmas cakes with chocolate-coated cicadas and worms for an event in Tokyo.
Iranians taking a picture in front of Christmas decorations in Tehran on Christmas eve.
A Christian priest holds a chalice at a prayer session inside a church during Christmas celebrations in Chandigarh, India.
Actors take part in a Nativity play, Dogliani, Northern Italy.
A visitor takes pictures of Christmas trees illuminated by LED lights on Chrismas eve in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur.
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa (C), the apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, carries a figurine of Baby Jesus in Saint Catherine's Church at the end of the Christmas Midnight Mass and walks in procession to the 'Grotto', where, as Christians believe, the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank.
A Ferris wheel, central Syntagma square, Athens, Greece.
Chloe, a Lebanese Christian teenager dressed as Santa Claus, holds a Syrian child refugee during a gift distribution organized by the Maronite congregation "Mission de Vie" in the town of Dbayeh, north of Beirut.
18/25
© AP Photo / Francois Mori
'The Christmas Frosted' group members Benedicte, Marie Pascale and Sylvane, dressed as mermaids, warm up before going swimming in the Canal de L'ourq, in Pantin, a Paris suburb, France.
A woman holds a baby wearing a Santa Claus cap, as they attend a ceremony on Christmas eve at the Central Brooks Memorial Church in Karachi, Pakistan.
Members of the Senftenbergers Pirrlliepausen (Senftenberger's Icicles) Swim Club pose for a picture during the traditional Christmas swim near Senftenberg, Eastern Germany.
A man dressed as Santa Claus ice skates at The Rink At Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve in Manhattan, New York City, US.
Members of the volunteer Water Skiing Christmas Show, including a water skiing Santa Claus with elves, reindeer, the Grinch, and others, water ski on the Potomac River, in Alexandria, Virginia, just down the river from Washington, DC.
Well-wishers waiting to greet members of the royal family as they arrive to attend the Christmas Day church service in Sandringham, Britain.
People gather by a Christmas tree near damaged buildings during Christmas eve in al-Hamidiyah neighborhood in the old city of Homs, Syria.
Indian Christians light candles near the illuminated Our Lady Queen Church on Christmas Eve in Siliguri.
