The day in photos: Christmas Eve
Catholic chaplain Paul Shaughnessy celebrates midnight Mass for Marines at Al Asad, Iraq on Dec. 25. For many of the Marines, it was not their first Christmas away from home. (Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times)
Theodore Weisberg, left, of Seaport Securities Corp., Michael Sollitto, center, of Banc of America Specialist Inc. and Arthur Cashin of UBS Financial Services Inc. join with other traders to sing “Wait ‘Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It is a long-standing tradition for traders to sing the depression-era favorite on Christmas Eve and the last trading day of every year. (Mary Altaffer / Associated Press)
Hidden beneath those Santa suits are children participating in a Christmas Eve peace march in Amritsar, India. (Altaf Qadri / Associated Press)
A musical fountain punctuates the Christmas Eve celebration at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda Square in Xian, China. Christmas continues to gain popularity each year in the Chinese consumer culture. (China Photos / Getty Images)
An Iraqi Christian prays with rosary beads on Christmas Eve at the Church of the Virgin Mary on Palestine Street in central Baghdad. About 800,000 Christians lived in Iraq at the time of the U.S.-led invasion, but the number has since shrunk by a third or more as members of the minority community have fled, according to Christian leaders. (Ali Yussef AFP/Getty Images)
A street artist leaves Ermou Street, Athens’ main shopping district, as riot police clear the scene after a protest in Greece’s capital. The Dec. 6 police shooting of a teenager has sparked the worst rioting the country has seen in decades. (Thanassis Stavrakis / Associated Press)
Another day, another shoe. This one was thrown by a demonstrator at an effigy of President Bush during an anti-American protest in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Like the shoes thrown at the real president a few weeks ago in Baghdad, it missed its target. (Vahid Salemi / Associated Press)
A Palestinian boy dressed as Santa encounters scout troop members marching outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank. (Uriel Sinai / Getty Images)
A forest of lights illuminates a holiday display in Tokyo. (Shizuo Kambayashi / Getty Images)
The nativity scene is lit up in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Christmas Eve. (Alessandra Tarantino / Associated Press)