Christmas

Christmas

Christmas (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ and a widely observed holiday, celebrated generally on December 25 by billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it closes the Advent season and initiates the twelve days of Christmastide. Christmas is a civil holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated by an increasing number of non-Christians, and is an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season.

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Famous quotes containing the word christmas:

    Silver bells, silver bells,
    It’s Christmas time in the city.
    Ray Evans (b. 1915)

    “End of tomorrow.
    Don’t try to start the car or look deeper
    Into the eternal wimpling of the sky: luster
    On luster, transparency floated onto the topmost layer
    Until the whole thing overflows like a silver
    Wedding cake or Christmas tree, in a cascade of tears.”
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)

    I saw three ships come sailing by,
    Come sailing by, come sailing by,
    I saw three ships come sailing by,
    On Christmas Day in the morning.
    —Unknown. As I Sat on a Sunny Bank. . .

    Oxford Book of Light Verse, The. W. H. Auden, ed. (1938)