December 24 Holidays

Christmas Eve is the evening of December 24 — the night before Christmas — observed across Christian traditions with midnight masses, carol services, gift exchanges, and the anticipatory rituals that have accumulated around the celebration of Christ’s birth since at least the 4th century. Libya Independence Day marks December 24, 1951, when King Idris I proclaimed Libya’s independence — the first country to achieve independence through a United Nations resolution, making it a milestone in UN-mediated decolonization. National Eggnog Day celebrates the holiday punch of milk or cream, eggs, sugar, and spirits — whose American form developed in colonial taverns from a British egg-and-ale drink called “posset,” and which the U.S. consumes at approximately 135 million pounds annually in December alone. Last-Minute Shopper’s Day was created to celebrate and gently mock the approximately 30 percent of Americans who complete their holiday shopping on Christmas Eve.