Pope Benedict XVI receives gifts from children in native costumes as he celebrates the Christmas Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Peru's traffic police officers, dressed as Santa, dance with children during a Christmas show in Lima.
UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken celebrated Christmas at a flood shelter with the children of Ostuacan, Chiapas. In one weekend last month torrential rains in produced the worst flooding the region has seen in more than 50 years.
Children sing during a special mass ahead of Christmas at a Catholic church in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. There are some 10 million Catholics in China.
A Santa Claus impersonator is surrounded by children at the Christmas Post Office in Himmelpfort, which means 'Heavens Gate', in northern Germany, in a photo provided by the Deutsche Post AG.
Children light candles at a church on the eve of Christmas in Kathmandu.
Syrian children dressed as Santa Claus hold candles as they take part in a march to celebrate Christmas in Damascus
Children from the special language school Angeles walk to the post office where they will sing Christmas carols in Santiago,