Holiday Countdown

Christmas falls on December 25 every year on the Gregorian calendar, but the countdown to it touches a surprising number of cultural traditions. The 'twelve days of Christmas' actually run from December 25 (Christmas Day) through January 5 (Twelfth Night), ending with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6 — not the other way around as popular culture sometimes assumes. Advent, the four-week season leading up to Christmas, begins on the fourth Sunday before December 25, which means it can start as early as November 27 or as late as December 3 depending on the year. Advent calendars with 24 doors became a German Lutheran tradition in the 1850s and went global after WWII. This countdown shows you exactly how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds remain until Christmas in your local time zone — and a few related dates worth tracking: Black Friday (the Friday after US Thanksgiving), Cyber Monday, the start of Hanukkah (which moves on the Gregorian calendar because it follows the Hebrew lunar calendar), the winter solstice (Dec 21 or 22), Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. Whether you're meal-prepping, gift-shopping, or just counting down with the kids, it's all here in one place.