Christmas countdown: how many days until Christmas?

How many days until Christmas?

This Christmas countdown shows, in large digits, the time left until midnight on 25 December: days, hours, minutes and seconds. The page always aims at the next Christmas, and once the day is over it moves on to the following year by itself, so you can bookmark it and come back every December.

Under the digits, the line "Christmas: in … days" answers the question straight away. The full date, with the day of the week, tells you whether Christmas Day falls on a weekend this time.

How to read it

1. Open the page: the countdown starts at once, under the heading "Time left".
2. Check the details below: "In weeks" splits the wait into weeks and days, "Number of sleeps" counts the nights left and "Counting today" gives the number of calendar days.
3. Click "Full screen" to put the countdown on a TV, a classroom board or a shop screen.
4. On 25 December the digits are replaced by "Merry Christmas!" for the whole day.

Christmas traditions in English-speaking countries

In the UK and Ireland, Christmas Eve is often the night for hanging stockings, leaving a mince pie and a carrot out for Father Christmas and his reindeer, and for midnight services at church. Christmas Day usually centres on a large lunch or dinner: roast turkey with stuffing and all the trimmings, crackers pulled at the table with paper hats inside, then Christmas pudding. Boxing Day, 26 December, is a public holiday in the UK, Ireland (where it is called St Stephen's Day), Australia and New Zealand, and in parts of Canada. In the United States, Santa Claus fills the stockings, families often leave out milk and cookies, and only 25 December is a federal holiday. In Australia and New Zealand, Christmas falls in summer, so lunch is often eaten outdoors or at the beach.

Ways to make the wait go faster

• An Advent calendar. Most start on 1 December and have 24 doors, one a day up to Christmas Eve. You can make your own with envelopes, small boxes or socks pegged to a string, and put an activity inside rather than a sweet: a carol, a drawing, a film to watch together.
• Count the sleeps. For a small child, "eight more sleeps" means more than "eight days". The number shown here counts the nights until Christmas morning.
• One job a week. Put up the tree, write cards, post letters to Santa, bake mince pies, wrap presents.

How the time left is worked out

The countdown uses the clock on your device and your own time zone, so Christmas starts at midnight where you are, whether that is London, Chicago or Sydney. The time left is recalculated several times a second from the target moment rather than ticked down one second at a time, so it stays correct if the tab sits in the background or the laptop goes to sleep.

Frequently asked questions

Does the countdown end on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

It ends at midnight at the start of 25 December, Christmas Day. If you open presents on Christmas Eve, remember the digits reach zero a few hours after your celebration begins.

What happens on Christmas Day and the day after?

On 25 December the page shows "Merry Christmas!" until midnight. From 26 December it counts down to the next Christmas.

What does "Number of sleeps" mean?

It is the number of nights left before Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve it shows one sleep: the last night before the presents.