- The story of Christmas - Holiday Ideas for every occasion

Christmas is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus.

According to the Christian gospels, Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, where she and her husband Joseph had traveled to register in the Roman census.

Christ's birth, or nativity, was to fulfill the prophecies of Judaism that a messiah would come, from the house of David, to redeem the world from sin.

Early Christians celebrated more the subsequent Epiphany, when the baby Jesus was visited by the Magi (and this is still a primary time for celebration in Spain).

Efforts to assign a date for his birth, though better known from writings from some centuries later, would have been important to all Christians then, no less than now. The precise chronology of Jesus' birth and death as well as the historicity of Jesus are still debated.

Most scholars believe that December 25 was only adopted in the 4th century as a Christian holiday by the Roman Emperor Constantine, to encourage a common religious festival for both the Christians and the Pagans.

In predominantly Christian countries, Christmas has become the most economically significant holiday of the year, and it is also celebrated as a secular holiday in many countries with small Christian populations.

It is largely characterized by exchanging gifts within families, and by gifts brought by Father Christmas or Santa Claus, a big jolly man with a white beard, or other folk figures.

Local and regional Christmas traditions are still rich and varied, despite the widespread influence of American and British Christmas motifs disseminated through literature, television and other media.

The word Christmas is a contraction of Christ's Mass, derived from the Old English Cristes mæsse and refering to the religious ceremony of mass. It is often abbreviated Xmas, probably because X or Xt have often been used as a contraction for Christ (X resembles the Greek letter Χ (chi), the first letter of Christ in Greek (Χριστός [Christos]). Crimbo is a synonym used in British English.