ObservanceThursday, December 24, 2026
Christmas Eve
- Date
- Recurs
- Every year on December 24
- Category
- Celebration
Christmas Eve is December 24, and in much of the English-speaking world it carries more of the holiday's weight than Christmas Day itself: the arrival, the service, the last errand, the night something is supposed to happen. It is not a federal holiday in the United States and never has been — when federal offices close on the 24th, it is because a president signed an order for that year. Most of what Americans actually do on the night can be dated, and it is newer than it feels.
History
Christmas Day has been a federal holiday since 1870, when Congress declared New Year's Day, Independence Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays in the District of Columbia — the first four. Christmas Eve was not among them and has not been added since; the list of legal public holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103 now runs to eleven and still does not include December 24. What happens instead is decided year by year. Executive Order 14129, signed December 18, 2024, closed executive departments and agencies on December 24, 2024 and excused federal employees from duty, leaving exceptions to agency heads for national security, defense or other public need. The order never calls the day a holiday, because it is not one.
The American shape of the night — a visitor arriving by chimney while the household sleeps — can be dated too. "A Visit from St. Nicholas," better known by its first line, was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel, in Troy, New York, in 1823. Clement Clarke Moore is thought to have written it the previous year, is said to have been embarrassed by it, acknowledged authorship publicly in 1838, and published it under his own name in 1844. The attribution has been disputed ever since. Whoever wrote it, its plump, pipe-smoking, white-bearded Santa is the one that stuck.
Several of the night's fixtures are twentieth-century. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, devised by Eric Milner-White, has been sung in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve since 1918, and broadcast by the BBC since 1928. In 1955 a child in Colorado Springs saw a promotion in a local newspaper and dialed the unlisted number of the Continental Air Defense Command operations center; Colonel Harry Shoup, the commander on duty, assured the caller that CONAD would see Santa safely from the North Pole. NORAD inherited the tradition when it was formed in 1958. On December 24, 1968, in lunar orbit, the crew of Apollo 8 — Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman — read the first ten verses of Genesis to an audience of roughly half a billion people, Borman closing with "good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you."
And then the one most often told and least often believed. On the evening of December 24, 1914, British troops on the Western Front heard German soldiers singing carols and saw small fir trees and lanterns along the opposing trenches. On Christmas Day men met in No Man's Land, exchanged gifts, took photographs, buried their dead and in places kicked a football about. It was not universal — fighting and casualties continued elsewhere on the line — and the high commands moved to stop it happening again. The Imperial War Museums note that it was doubted for years afterward, until soldiers' letters printed in British newspapers from early January 1915, and the photographs that followed, settled the question.
Timeline
- 1823 — "A Visit from St. Nicholas" is published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel, in Troy, New York, fixing the American image of a Christmas Eve visitor.
- 1870 — Congress makes Christmas one of the first four federal holidays in the District of Columbia. December 24 is not included, then or since.
- December 24, 1914 — British and German troops on the Western Front begin the Christmas truce, meeting in No Man's Land the following day.
- 1918 — The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is first sung on Christmas Eve at King's College, Cambridge; the BBC begins broadcasting it in 1928.
- 1955 — A child's call to an unlisted Continental Air Defense Command number in Colorado Springs starts the Santa tracking that NORAD takes over in 1958.
- December 24, 1968 — The crew of Apollo 8 reads the first ten verses of Genesis from lunar orbit to an audience of about half a billion.
How to observe
Listen to one of the broadcasts the night is built on. King's College Chapel's Nine Lessons and Carols goes out on Christmas Eve afternoon, UK time, and the Apollo 8 Genesis reading is preserved in the National Archives. NORAD's Santa tracker runs on the 24th and is, by NORAD's own account, the long consequence of one wrong number in 1955.
Read the truce in the soldiers' own words. The Imperial War Museums hold the letters and the recorded recollections — including from men who were there and doubted the football match happened at all — which is more interesting than the greeting-card version.
If you work for the federal government, do not assume the 24th off. It is not a holiday; it is an executive order, issued or not, year by year.
Frequently asked questions
Is Christmas Eve a federal holiday?
No. The legal public holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103 include Christmas Day but not December 24. Federal offices sometimes close on the 24th because the president issues an executive order excusing employees from duty for that year — Executive Order 14129 did it for December 24, 2024 — but it is not a standing holiday, and one year's order says nothing about the next.
Who wrote "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"?
It was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel in 1823. Clement Clarke Moore acknowledged authorship in 1838 and published it under his own name in 1844, and that attribution has been disputed ever since.
Did the Christmas truce of 1914 really happen?
Yes, though not everywhere. It began on the evening of December 24, 1914 and spread along parts of the Western Front, while fighting and casualties continued elsewhere. Soldiers' letters printed in British newspapers from early January 1915, and photographs, established it. Whether an organized football match took place is still unclear — some of the men who were there doubted it.
How long has NORAD tracked Santa?
Since 1955, when a child who had seen a promotion in a local newspaper dialed the unlisted number of the Continental Air Defense Command operations center in Colorado Springs. Colonel Harry Shoup, the commander on duty, promised the caller that CONAD would get Santa through. NORAD took the tradition over when it was formed in 1958.
What did the Apollo 8 astronauts read on Christmas Eve?
The first ten verses of Genesis, from lunar orbit on December 24, 1968, to an audience of roughly half a billion. Bill Anders began the reading and commander Frank Borman closed the broadcast with "good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you."
When is Christmas Eve?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | December 24 | Thursday |
| 2027 | December 24 | Friday |
| 2028 | December 24 | Sunday |
| 2029 | December 24 | Monday |
| 2030 | December 24 | Tuesday |
Sources
- Library of Congress, A Cause for Celebration: Federal Holidays and Observances, Part 1 (In Custodia Legis) — https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2024/03/a-cause-for-celebration-federal-holidays-and-observances-part-1/ → Congress first establishing public holidays in 1870 — New Year's Day, Independence Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving — in the District of Columbia, and the eleven legal public holidays now listed in 5 U.S.C. 6103.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays — https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ → the legal public holidays under 5 U.S.C. 6103, which include December 25 and do not include December 24.
- Federal Register, Executive Order 14129: Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2024 — https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/26/2024-31143/providing-for-the-closing-of-executive-departments-and-agencies-of-the-federal-government-on → the order signed December 18, 2024; executive departments and agencies closed and employees excused from duty on December 24, 2024; agency-head exceptions for national security, defense or other public need; and the order's reliance on Executive Order 11582 and 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) for pay and leave, without calling the day a holiday.
- New-York Historical, Here Comes Santa Claus: Clement Clarke Moore and "A Visit from St. Nicholas" — https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/here-comes-santa-claus → the poem published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel in 1823; Moore publicly acknowledging authorship in 1838; the attribution being disputed; and the plump, pipe-smoking, white-bearded Santa it described.
- Library of Congress, Highlighting the Holidays: A Visit From St. Nick — https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2014/12/highlighting-the-holidays-a-visit-from-st-nick/ → Moore first penning the poem in 1822, the poem made public without his knowledge in December 1823, his reported embarrassment at it, and his publishing it under his own name in 1844.
- Imperial War Museums, The Real Story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 — https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/first-world-war/christmas-truce → the truce beginning in the late evening of Christmas Eve 1914 with German carols, lanterns and small fir trees along the trenches; meetings in No Man's Land on Christmas Day with gifts, photographs, burials and impromptu football; the truce not being observed everywhere, with fighting and casualties continuing; high commands acting to prevent a repetition; the uncertainty over whether an organized football match occurred, including a participant's doubts; and soldiers' letters printed in British newspapers from early January 1915, with photographs, confirming the event.
- King's College, Cambridge, A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols — https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/a-festival-of-nine-lesson-and-carols → the service first held in King's College Chapel in 1918, introduced by Eric Milner-White; its place on Christmas Eve; and the first BBC broadcast in 1928.
- North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD Tracks Santa (fact sheet) — https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/578773/norad-tracks-santa/ → tracking since 1955; a child accidentally dialing the unlisted number of the CONAD Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado after seeing a promotion in a local newspaper; Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup as the commander on duty; and NORAD taking over the tradition when it was formed in 1958.
- National Archives, Eyewitness: Crew of Apollo 8 — A View from Lunar Orbit, 1968 — https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=25 → the December 24, 1968 telecast from lunar orbit; Bill Anders beginning the reading; the crew reading the first ten verses of Genesis in turn; an audience of about half a billion worldwide; and Frank Borman closing with "good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you."
Note on a resolved conflict: popular retellings attribute the 1955 call to a misprinted Sears advertisement. NORAD's own fact sheet says only that the child saw "a promotion in a local newspaper" and dialed an unlisted number, so this page follows NORAD and does not name the retailer or call the number misprinted.
Note on a second conflict: New-York Historical dates Moore's public acknowledgment of authorship to 1838, while the Library of Congress says he did not publish the poem under his name until 1844. These describe different acts, and this page gives both dates rather than choosing between them.
Omitted for lack of a source: the liturgical origin of the Christmas Eve vigil and Midnight Mass. The Vatican's published homilies confirm that the papal Midnight Mass is celebrated on December 24 each year, but none of the sources consulted documents how or when the evening-before observance took shape, so this page does not assert one.
Rejected as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and content-farm or AI-generated listicles.
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