Andrew Winning / Reuters
Harry Jackson, 13, the head chorister at St Paul's Cathedral School sings Christmas carols inside the cathedral in central London on Dec. 10. Christmas is a busy time for the choir who will sing to over 20,000 people during the Christmas season.
Markus Schreiber / AP
Hundreds of people dressed as Santa Claus start the annual St. Nicholas Run, in Michendorf, Germany, Dec. 9.
Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
Runners dressed as Father Christmas take part in the 'Nikolaus Run' in the East German town of Michendorf, Dec. 9.
Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
A runner dressed as Father Christmas pushes his children in a baby buggy during the 'Nikolaus Run' in Michendorf, Dec. 9.
Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
A runner dressed as Father Christmas runs in heavy snow during the so-called 'Nikolaus Run' in the East German town of Michendorf, Dec. 9.
Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
Runners dressed as Father Christmas run in heavy snow in the East German town of Michendorf, Germany, Dec, 9.
Brian Ach / AP
See the many ways St. Nick spreads holiday cheer around the world.
Around 800 participants took part in the 4th annual Santa Claus running competition in Michendorf, Germany (28 miles west of Berlin), hosted by the Laufclub Michendorf running association. Both children and adults donned Santa outfits for the 10k race in the snow.
Max Rossi / Reuters
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception prayer in Piazza di Spagna in downtown Rome on Dec. 8. This papal tradition marks the beginning of the Christmas season in Italy as the Pope crowns a statue of Mary with a garland of flowers.
Jeon Heon-kyun / EPA
South Korean divers wearing Santa Claus costumes swim in a tank during an event at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, December, 8 2012.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP - Getty Images
The National Christmas Tree is illuminated during the 90th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting on the Ellipse of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2012. U.S. President Barack Obama and others attended the event which included performances by Jason Mraz, Ledisi, James Taylor, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, Colbie Caillat and American Idol season 11 winner Phillip Phillips. President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas tree, a 48-foot Balsam fir, in 1923.
Related Slideshow: Holiday season lights up
Bicycle designer Dieter "Didi" Senft presents his latest creation, a reindeer cycle, in the rain in Storkow, Germany, on Nov. 29. Senft's unusual designs have included a bike made from rakes, below, and a tandem bicycle more than 10 feet tall.
Patrick Pleul / EPA
Dieter Senft presents his so-called '111-twelve-teeth-rake-bicycle' in Storkow, Germany, on March 12, 2012. The bicycle consists of 111 garden rakes and is fully functional but cannot be used for raking.
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As temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, take a look at beautiful light displays from around the globe.
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images
Lauren Rae, left, and Olivia Marlow look at the ornaments on a Christmas tree in the Grand Foyer during the first viewing of the White House 2012 holiday decorations. The first lady welcomed military families to the White House for a viewing of the decorations.
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images
Christmas decorations in the China room during the first viewing of the White House 2012 holiday decorations.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
A nearly 300-pound gingerbread White House on display at the State Dining Room on Nov. 28. A stuffed replica of Bo, the presidential dog, is at lower left.
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images
Christmas trees in the State Dining Room.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
First lady Michelle Obama reacts as she participates in craft activities with children of military families at the State Dining Room after a preview of the 2012 White House holiday decorations.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
First lady Michelle Obama speaks in the East Room during a preview of the 2012 White House holiday decorations on Nov. 28. The first lady welcomed military families for the first viewing.
Jim Watson / AFP - Getty Images
A stuffed replica of Bo, the presidential dog, wearing a Santa Claus hat at the White House.
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Rich Schultz / AP
Crews use a crane to hoist a 80 ft. tall, 50 ft. diameter, 10-ton Norway Spruce tree from its base at the home of Joseph Balku in Flanders, N.J., on Nov. 13. The tree was laid onto a flatbed truck and transported to New York City where it is this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Rich Schultz / AP
Crews cut down an 80 ft. tall, 50 ft. diameter, 10-ton Norway Spruce tree that will be this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree at the home of Joseph Balku in Flanders, N.J., on Nov. 13. The tree survived the winds of Hurricane Sandy that left a path of destruction in this New Jersey town and left Balku without electricity for weeks.
A day ago Joseph Balku’s Norway Spruce stood 80-feet tall outside his home in Flanders, N.J. Today it is 50 miles away, the new holiday centerpiece of New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza (also home to NBC News). Over the next two weeks, the tree will be decorated with more than 30,000 multi-colored lights on 5-miles of wire. The 80-year old tree has added meaning, it has been dubbed a “Sandy survivor,” coming from an area affected by the recent storm that wreaked havoc across the Northeast. According to AP:
Balku says he watched the tree, which weighs 10 tons and is 50 feet in diameter, as it swayed in the backyard of his Mount Olive property. Balku says it had been bundled for protection. He lost two other trees and just got electricity back over the weekend.
The tree’s arrival in Midtown serves as an unofficial kick-off to the quickly approaching holiday season. This year’s tree-lighting ceremony will be held on Nov. 28, featuring Cee Lo Green and Mariah Carey (among many other talents).
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Richard Drew / AP
The 80th Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is suspended by a crane in preparation to be raised at Rockefeller Center, on Nov. 14, in New York. The 80-foot Norway Spruce, donated by Joseph Balku, of Flanders, N.J., will be strung with 30,000 multi-colored, LEDs on 5 miles of wire, and topped with a Swarovski Crystal Star. The tree is scheduled to be lit during ceremonies Wednesday Nov. 28.
Andrew Burton / Reuters
The 2012 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is put in position by a crane and crew of workers outside Rockefeller Center in New York, on Nov. 14.
John Moore / Getty Images
Workers prepare the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree before standing it up on Nov. 14, in New York City.
Richard Drew / AP
The 80th Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is suspended by a crane in preparation to be raised at Rockefeller Center, on Nov. 14, in New York.
John Moore / Getty Images
Workers prepare the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree before standing it up on Nov. 14, in New York City.
John Moore / Getty Images
Workers move the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree into position on Nov. 14, in New York City.
Andrew Gombert / EPA
A crane lifts the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York City, on Nov. 14.
A tree that survived Superstorm Sandy has been transported and set up at Rockefeller Center. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
An employee makes plastic Christmas trees at the Zhongsheng Christmas Crafts factory in Yiwu, Zhejiang province on Sept. 13. Christmas comes but once a year, but for Christmas decoration factories and retailers in China, it starts as early as July and ends in late September, when massive orders from around the world arrive in Yiwu, located 185 miles south of Shanghai in the prosperous Zhejiang province. Yiwu is considered a bellwether for China's low-cost exports, especially exports destined for emerging markets. Orders come from places as far away as Europe, the United States and South America. This year, European demand for Christmas goods has dropped sharply, local vendors said. One estimated European orders were down 20 percent from last year, while another said his European orders had fallen by 40 percent.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
A vendor smokes next to an inflatable Santa Claus outside of his Christmas decoration shop in Yiwu, Zhejiang province on Sept. 13.
Reuters -- Shoppers the world over are stressed and forcing retail executives to be both more aggressive and more conservative heading into the year-end holiday period and new year.
U.S. retail executives are not reading too much into a recent uptick in consumer spending growth, while their European counterparts are dealing with shoppers afraid that the region is slipping into recession.
In the face of such prospects, the trick for retailers and consumer brands will be to figure out how to coax shoppers into stores and onto websites without shrinking profit margins through discounting, opening too many new stores or loading up on inventory that could go unsold at Christmas.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Natalia Malharoblishvki from Georgia buys Christmas decorations at a commercial area in Yiwu, Zhejiang province on Sept. 13.
Mohammed Salem / Reuters
A Palestinian Greek Orthodox girl attends Christmas services at the Saint Porfirios church in Gaza City, Jan. 7.
Radivoje Pavicic / AP
Bosnian Serb children break the traditional Christmas bread to mark Orthodox Christmas Day festivities in Banja Luka, near Sarajevo, Bosnia, Jan. 7. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar.
Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP - Getty Images
A man reads the book "Night before Christmas" by a Russian writer Nikolay Gogol, and a woman listens on Orthodox Christmas Eve, Jan. 6, in Sosnovo village, near Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Christmas falls on January 7 for Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, Russia and other Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 16th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox and commonly used in secular life around the world. AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV (Photo credit should read KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images)
Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters
People celebrate the pagan rite called "Kolyadki" in the village of Lobcha, some 230 km (144 miles) south of Minsk, Belarus, Jan. 7. Kolyada is a pagan winter holiday, which over the centuries has merged with Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Ukraine and some parts of Belarus.
Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images
A woman lights a candle during the Orthodox Christmas service at Vladimir Ravnoapostolny Cathedral in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, late Jan. 6. Christmas falls on January 7 for Orthodox Christians in the Middle East, Russia and other Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 16th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics, Protestants, Greek Orthodox and commonly used in secular life around the world.
Read more about Orthodox Christian Christmas celebrations in the United States from nwi.com: Serbian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas with ages-old traditions
Kent Nishimura / Pool / EPA
Eight month old Cooper Wall Wagner sticks his fingers in President Barack Obama's mouth as he poses for a picture with Cooper's parents Greg, right, and Meredith Wagner in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Dec. 25. The President and Mrs. Obama made their annual trip to greet current and retired members of the US military and their families and ate a Christmas Day meal in the Anderson Hall mess hall at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
I think this one most definitely tops the 'screaming on Santa's knee' picture as far as childhood Christmas images go. I love it that the dad is completely oblivious to what is going on next to him...totally classic.
Read more about the Obamas' stay in Hawaii.
Jason Reed / Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama tries to evade the fingers of eight-month-old Cooper Wall Wagner.
Jose Luis Gonzalez / Reuters
A boy looks at a toy train he received during an annual gift-giving event organized by firefighters in Ciudad Juarez on Dec. 24, 2011. The firefighters from Ciudad Juarez collect donated toys throughout the year for Christmas and hand them out to poor children on Christmas Eve.
Every now and then you see a news picture that makes you smile and cry at the same time.
Related slideshow: Christmas around the world
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