With less than a week left until Christmas, lighted displays, colorful markets, and Santa’s helpers are out in force. From the Americas to Europe and Asia, gathered here as an early gift is a collection of holiday cheer and light wrapped up in 30 photographs.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
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A surfer dressed as Santa Claus rides an artificial wave in nearly freezing water in the Alaia Bay wave pool, surrounded by the Swiss Alps, in Sion, Switzerland, on December 15, 2021. #
Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty -
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A member of the Amigos do Papai Noel ("Friends of Santa Claus") group, wearing a Santa Claus costume, greets the children of Sao Francisco community at Careiro da Varzea, Brazil, a city on the shores of the Amazon River, on December 18, 2021. Amigos do Papai Noel is dedicated to promoting Christmas for underprivileged children in the city of Manaus and rural and riverside communities in the Amazon. #
Michael Dantas / AFP / Getty -
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Young Christian worshippers light candles outside the grotto at the Church of the Nativity, the traditional place of Christ's birth, in the city of Bethlehem, on December 19, 2021. #
Abbas Momani / AFP / Getty -
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Guests walk on the suspension bridge during Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park on December 16, 2021, in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 16, 2021. #
Andrew Chin / Getty -
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People shop for Christmas decorations and gifts on Hàng Mã Street in Hanoi, Vietnam, on December 11, 2021. In the predominantly Buddhist nation, Christmas is not an official public holiday, but many people celebrate it as both a religious festival and a new cultural tradition. #
Linh Pham / Getty -
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People visit an illuminated trail featuring larger-than-life lantern sculptures, installations, and projections at Verdala Palace, outside Rabat, Malta, on December 8, 2021. #
Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters -
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Rowhouses are seen covered in holiday decorations as part of the Miracle on 34th Street Hampden Christmas Street Holiday Show, in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, on December 9, 2021. #
Julio Cortez / AP -
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People gather around the the lighting of public Christmas lights at Gran Estacion Mall in Bogota, Colombia, during a performance by Bogota's Philharmonic Orchestra, on December 14, 2021. #
Juancho Torres / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
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