North & South America
- United States: The famous character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was born as a marketing gimmick for the Montgomery Ward department store in 1939.
- Canada: Children worldwide mail letters to Santa's official Canadian postal code, H0H 0H0, and volunteer postal workers reply to every single one.
- Argentina: Locals celebrate the climax of Christmas Eve at midnight by launching globos—luminous, paper Chinese lanterns that fill the warm summer night sky.
- Paraguay: Instead of pine trees, people decorate their homes with coquitos (tiny native coconuts) and fragrant, flowering spikes of the caranday palm tree.
Europe
- Germany: The first artificial Christmas trees were invented here during the 19th century and were crafted out of dyed goose feathers.
- France: In Provence, the massive Christmas Eve dinner traditionally concludes with an astonishing spread of exactly 13 different desserts to represent Jesus and his 12 apostles.
- Spain: A massive, nationwide lottery called El Gordo ("The Fat One") takes place on 22 December, where almost the entire country tunes in to watch school children sing out the winning numbers.
- United Kingdom: Millions of families tune in on Christmas Day to watch the King's Christmas Broadcast, a royal tradition that began as a live radio broadcast by King George V in 1932.
- Russia: Because the Russian Orthodox Church follows the older Julian calendar, Christmas Day is officially celebrated on 7 January rather than 25 December.
Asia
- Singapore: The famous shopping hub of Orchard Road transforms into a massive tropical wonderland with a spectacular, miles-long display of glowing fairy lights and artificial interactive snow.
- Vietnam: Christmas is not an official public holiday, yet young people in Ho Chi Minh City pack the city streets on Christmas Eve to throw confetti and celebrate outdoors.
- India: Because traditional pine trees are hard to find, families in many regions decorate banana or mango trees with festive ornaments and lights.
- Bangladesh: In the Bengali language, Christmas is called Boro Din, which literally translates to "The Big Day."
- Iraq: On Christmas Eve, Christian families light a bonfire made from dried thorn branches; if the thorns burn completely to ash, it is believed to bring good fortune.
Africa
- Cape Verde: Emigrants and students from all over the globe flood back to their native islands, turning Christmas into a massive reunion where families stay up late dancing to traditional acoustic rhythms.
