In many places around the world, it is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Santa's are making appearances from Beijing to Beirut, and the traditions of the season can be seen all over - the trees, the lights, the shoppers, the devout and more.
Collected here are a handful of recent photographs of people enjoying and celebrating this year's Christmas Season as it hits full swing.
A man dressed as Santa Claus holds a flare as he wake boards on a small lake in Hamburg, Germany
Christmas lights shine behind a tree in Nervion in Seville, Spain
People stand in 30 Rockefeller Plaza looking at the Rockefeller Centre Christmas Tree after
it is illuminated at the annual lighting ceremony
Crowds of thousands gathered to watch the lighting of the 12-ton, 74-foot tall Norway
spruce in one of New York's cherished holiday rituals.
Santa Claus Larry Durian is screened by TSA agents before entering a secure area of the Akron Canton Airport in Green, Ohio.
Santa planned to spend seven hours at the airport greeting passengers
for their customer appreciation day.
The Choir of King's College Cambridge conduct a rehearsal of their Christmas Eve service
of "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" in King's College Chapel
in Cambridge, England.
The choir's performance, traditionally held on Christmas Eve, was introduced in 1918 and
is broadcast to millions of people around the world.
A Christmas tree is installed on Red Square with St. Basil Cathedral and Kremlin's Spassky Tower, right, in the background, in Moscow, Russia .
Jonathan Fernandez, 6, sleeps in his parents shopping cart after entering a Best Buy store at dawn on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving which commenced the holiday gift-buying season in Naples, Florida.
People watch fireworks during the illumination of a giant Christmas tree at the launching Christmas Festivities
in Beirut, Lebanon
Donald Boyce, dressed as Santa Claus, does a "shaka" as he shares a wave with a surfer
while riding in an outrigger canoe off Waikiki beach in Honolulu, Hawaii
The United States Capitol Christmas tree, after a lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C.
A woman smiles as she takes part in The Great Scottish Santa Run in Princes Street gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland
Fireworks explode over a floating Christmas tree as it is lighted for the holiday season in
Lagoa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A participant in the Light Festival Parade, held to start Christmas celebrations in
San Jose, Costa Rica
A girl plays in water illuminated with Christmas lights in Medellin, Colombia.
Santa Claus walks through a Christmas Tree Farm in Mellensee near Berlin, Germany.
According to the German timber industry association, Germans are expected to purchase
about 29 million Christmas trees this season.
During the annual Santa Speedo Run, which started at the Lir Irish Pub Restaurant,
these runners take up the rear of the race in Boston, Massachusetts.
A man stands inside a snow globe as part of Christmas decorations near a shopping
center in Taipei, Taiwan .
A trumpeter plays in front of a Christmas tree at the Bergparade (Mountain Parade)
during heavy snow flurry in Seiffen in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), Germany
Skiers and snowboarders dressed as Santa head down the slope as part of the 11th annual Santa Sunday at Sunday River in Newry, Maine.
Participants get a free lift ticket if they dress as Santa and donate $10 or more to the Bethel Rotary Club's annual toy drive.
Journey Skierski, 7, chooses a new bicycle and helmet during the Christmas tree
lighting event at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
Speedway Childrens Charities, Chalmer McWilliams and Texas Air Systems provided
100 children's bicycles to selected families at the event.
Chinese police break up a group of nearly 100 foreigners taking part in SantaCon .....
a worldwide event that sees people don Santa's familiar red suit and white-brimmed hat
and make merry in cities around the world - in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China
The Santas were ejected from Tiananmen Square.
Space-themed Christmas decorations hang over Carnaby Street in London, England.
Johanna Heller, dressed as a gold-foiled Christ Child, recites the traditional prologue for the opening ceremony of Germany's oldest Christkindlesmarkt (Christ Child Market) in Nuremberg, Germany
The first official record of this pre-Christmas market dates back to 1628.
A Christmas tree is on display, with a monument to Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in
the background, at a square of the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Fire from a fireplace consumes a staged room during a holiday safety live fire demonstration
in Menlo Park, California. The Menlo Park fire department held their annual holiday safety demonstration to promote fire safety during the holidays.
Demonstrations using live fire showed how quickly fires can consume a home when a
dry Christmas tree comes in contact with fire or candles are left unattended.
A walrus named "Nuka" snacks on a holiday cake at the New York Aquarium in
the Brooklyn borough of New York .
Aside from being a tasty snack, the cake serves as an animal enrichment exercise.
Aquarium staff introduce unusual items into an animals environment from time to time
in order to provide it with mental and physical stimulation.
A man dressed as Julenissen, Norway's Santa Claus, paints a wooden "Matryoshka" doll
as he takes part in Christmas festivities in Moscow, Russia .
Staff at the Amazon.co.uk Swansea fulfillment center process orders as they prepare for
what is expected to be their busiest Christmas on record in Swansea, Wales.
The 800,000 sq ft fulfillment center is the largest of Amazon's six in the UK.
Children press against the glass as they look at the holiday window display at
Macy's flagship store
Runners dressed as Santa Claus take part in the Santa Dash in Liverpool, England,
The annual race sees thousands of competitors run the 5km course through the streets
of the city center.
A woman tests the lights of Christmas decorations beside her son sleeping inside their makeshift stall along a busy street in Manila, Philippines .
The Philippines celebrates one of the longest Christmas seasons in the world starting with dawn masses on December 16 and ending with the feast of the Epiphany in January.
Christians hold candles during a Christmas mass at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in
Jakarta, Indonesia .Approximately a hundred thousand Christians gathered for the
celebration in Jakarta's biggest stadium.
A solitary spruce tree, decorated with battery-powered holiday lights controlled by a timer,
greets motorists travelling the Glenn Highway near Palmer, Alaska.
Glass maker and blower Will Shakspeare makes glass baubles in his workshop at
Shakespeare Glass and Gallery in Taunton, England.
The traditional glass maker based in Somerset is currently hand making over 100 glass
baubles a day to deal with the Christmas demand.
A man places illuminated house models at Germany's oldest Christkindlesmarkt
(Christ Child Market) in Nuremberg, Germany
Santa Claus gets a hug from Make-a-Wish Foundation child Emma Mear, 8, at Macy's
in the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, New York
