December Holiday Countdowns: Every 2026 Date on One Page
December is not one holiday, it is a season of them, stacked back to back from the first Advent candle to Orthodox Christmas in January. This page is the master calendar: every major December holiday for 2026, in order, each with its own live countdown.
The 2026 December holiday calendar
| Holiday | 2026 date | Days before/after Christmas |
|---|---|---|
| Advent begins | Sunday, November 29 | 26 before |
| Hanukkah (first candle) | Friday, December 4 | 21 before |
| St. Nicholas Day | Sunday, December 6 | 19 before |
| Winter solstice | Monday, December 21 | 4 before |
| Christmas Eve | Thursday, December 24 | 1 before |
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25 | The day itself |
| Boxing Day | Saturday, December 26 | 1 after |
| Kwanzaa begins | Saturday, December 26 | 1 after |
| New Year’s Day 2027 | Friday, January 1 | 7 after |
| Three Kings Day (Epiphany) | Wednesday, January 6 | 12 after |
| Orthodox Christmas | Thursday, January 7 | 13 after |
How the season flows
The 2026 season has a clean shape. Thanksgiving weekend hands straight into Advent on November 29. Hanukkah arrives early this year, wrapping on December 12 with nearly two weeks still to go before Christmas. The solstice turns the light around on December 21, Christmas lands on a Friday for a built in long weekend, and the week that follows runs Boxing Day and Kwanzaa into a Friday New Year, closing with Epiphany and Orthodox Christmas in the first week of January. Start to finish: 40 days.
One clock behind them all
Every counter on this page runs on the same engine as the main Christmas countdown, in your local timezone. For the season’s practical deadlines rather than its celebrations, shipping cutoffs and shopping checkpoints live in the planning hub, and the full date reference is on the key dates page.
Planning ahead? Browse every key Christmas date, use the Christmas planning guides, or watch the live Christmas countdown.