 Christmas goes global - London, United Kingdom (22-12-2010 - 13:09:15)
 The holiday season officially begins in November when the decorative lights are turned on in the main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street, lending central London some razzle-dazzle. Then the shopping season begins in earnest, the streets buzzing with people buying gifts for their friends, family and especially children, for whom Christmas is sheer magic.
In Trafalgar Square, the city's main square, a giant Christmas tree is set up. Glimmering with lights, it's a traditional gift from the people of Norway. St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, looking onto the square, presents notable musical events like "Carols By Candlelight" throughout December.
When Christmas Day arrives, virtually the whole city shuts down. This is very much a family day, when the extended brood get together at home to exchange gifts, feast on delicacies, tuck into turkey, play games, and make merry.
Christmas goes global - Stockholm, Sweden (20-12-2010 - 04:50:03)
 Scandinavia occupies an exalted place in Christmas traditions. For up there, in far northern Europe, is where Santa Claus supposedly dwells, tending his reindeers and flying off each Christmas Eve to visit all the world's children. Here too is where many of Europe's Christmas trees grow, a major year-end export.
Stockholm exemplifies the Scandinavian Christmas spirit. People stroll the narrow streets of Gamla Stan, the Old Town, crunching snow underfoot, coming upon squares hosting Christmas markets with centuries of tradition. The scent of roasted chestnuts, gingerbread and mulled wine fills the air and the stalls display a vivid array of traditional, handcrafted decorations, toys and local wares.
Stockholmers love their Christmas traditions, like glugging glögg (mulled wine) and chewing chestnuts whilst gift shopping in the frosty air. A favorite is the Kungsträdgården market in the main shopping district, where the window displays are also a big draw, such as at NK, the elite department store. Hugely popular too is the old-time Christmas market at Skansen open-air museum on Djurgården Island.
| Christmas goes global - Bangkok, Thailand (20-12-2010 - 04:39:03)
 "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way" – if the year's end has a theme song in Bangkok, this is it. In scores of malls, hypermarkets and department stores throughout the Thai capital, the Christmas season brings playlists of jolly songs, forests of twinkling trees and mountains of tinsel. The central shopping district around Siam Square and the renovated Central World Plaza mesmerizes with lights. As Buddhist people, not so many Thais know what Christmas is traditionally for, but they adore the colorful trappings of the holiday season. Santa Claus – virtually unknown a generation ago – is now a favorite Thai character, with staff in stores, restaurants and clubs, especially the girls, wearing Santa hats and costumes with extra smiles on their faces. For the substantial number of expatriates and tourists, dozens of hotels and pubs lay on gargantuan Christmas dinners, and the Christian community adds spiritual echoes with special events such as Handel's Messiah.
Christmas goes global - Tokyo, Japan (19-12-2010 - 04:37:57)
 Nowadays, Christmas, wherever you go, is highly commercialized. In a non-Christian and keenly consumerist country like Japan it's an almighty excuse for a grand show with a strong tug on the citizens' purse strings. Add the human need to compensate for the grimness of winter and you have December in Tokyo, a phantasmagoria of Christmas lights in every major shopping and business district. The Japanese are mad for illuminations, with the Marunouchi and Roppongi Hills areas having especially brilliant displays, whilst even more dazzling effort goes into the light shows at Shinjuku Southern Terrace, Tokyo Midtown with its Starlight Garden, and Caretta Shiodome with its vast ocean of blue lights.
Just about every restaurant in town offers a Christmas menu, with just about any cuisine, but the favorite Japanese Christmas Day meal is roast chicken followed by strawberry shortcake. For Christians, churches offer Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship and special masses, and for children, Christmas at Tokyo Disneyland is a magical time with a snowy White Holiday Parade and the Cinderella Castle all decked out.
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