Pictures: Christmas celebrations across the Bay Space and the world

Colourful Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations passed off across the Bay Space and worldwide on Wednesday.

Pope Francis in his conventional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to search out braveness throughout this Holy Yr “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Center East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia.

Right here in California, among the many elite class of Bay Space vacation lights lovers, Joseph Leake goes the additional mile – actually – to rework his household’s property right into a vibrant and good spectacle each winter season.

Leake lives in San Francisco, the place he usually works lengthy weeks and double shifts within the Sheriff’s Division’s DNA and forensics unit.

This 12 months, Leake’s portfolio as a vacation lights fanatic is rising as he takes over working the well-known California Christmas Lights web site. The location has develop into the go-to place for Bay Space individuals who wish to get pleasure from a festive winter evening outing by exploring extraordinary vacation lights shows of their neighborhoods or close by communities.

Click on right here to see the place to view the most effective native vacation mild shows.

Swimmers have fun after collaborating within the Christmas Day race for the Peter Pan cup within the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park in London, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photograph/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Christmas lights show at 578 Flagler Road in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Space Information Group) An individual dressed as Santa Claus working for suggestions waits for cusotmers close to the the Rockfeller Christmas Tree on Christmas Day on Dec. 25, 2024 in New York Metropolis. For the primary time since 2005 the primary evening of Hanukkah falls on the identical day as Christmas. The realm is among the nation’s hottest locations for buying and leisure in the course of the vacation season. (Photograph by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Pictures) *** BESTPIX *** TOPSHOT – Worshippers of the Legio Maria African Church Mission attend the Christmas Eve vigil mass at St. Helena Mathare Parish within the casual settlement of Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya within the early hours of Dec. 25, 2024. Legio Maria is an African impartial spiritual motion amongst significantly the Luo folks of western Kenya that developed step by step and ultimately separated from the Roman Catholic Church within the Sixties. The spiritual motion was initiated by repeated appearances of a mystic girl delivering messages concerning the incarnation of the Son of God as a black man. (Photograph by SIMON MAINA/AFP by way of Getty Pictures) Vacationers sporting hats pose for a photograph subsequent to a Christmas tree on Christmas Day at Bondi Seaside in Sydney on Dec. 25, 2024. (Photograph by David Grey /AFP by way of Getty Pictures) Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, high left, with others together with Rabbi Levi Shemtov and Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, mild the Nationwide Menorah in celebration of the primary evening of Hanukkah, throughout an occasion sponsored by the American Mates of Lubavitch, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, on The Ellipse in Washington. The eight-day Jewish vacation started at sunset and this 12 months coincided with Christmas Day. At proper the Nationwide Christmas Tree can also be seen, with the White Home at left. (AP Photograph/Jacquelyn Martin) Britt Allen, of Livermore, performs together with her youngsters, Wyatt, 3, and Aubree, 5, left, as snow from a snowing machine falls as a part of the Christmas show at Alex Dourov’s Knottingham Circle extravaganza in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group) On this photograph supplied by Vatican Media, Pope Francis presides over the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at The Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media by way of AP) Kate Princess of Wales smiles as holds a bouquet of flowers offers to her by well-wishers after she attended the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in Norfolk, England, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photograph/Jon Tremendous) Guests stroll at a Christmas mild tunnel in the course of the 2024 New Taipei Christmasland on Christmas eve in New Taipei Metropolis on Dec. 24, 2024. (Photograph by I-Hwa Cheng/AFP by way of Getty Pictures) Carlos Hebert Plante, dressed as Santa Claus to hit the water amid an air temperature of -14 levels Celsius on Christmas Day, in Montreal, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (Bernard Brault /The Canadian Press by way of AP) A Christmas tree glows throughout nightfall at South Shore Heart in Alameda, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group) An individual in an all pink outfit walks in Instances Sq. on Christmas Day on Dec. 25, 2024 in New York Metropolis. For the primary time since 2005 the primary evening of Hanukkah falls on the identical day as Christmas. The realm is among the nation’s hottest locations for buying and leisure in the course of the vacation season. (Photograph by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Pictures) A vacation mild show on Kilkenny Place is is mirrored on the lagoon in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group) Christians attend the Christmas Mass at Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral Church, in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photograph/Okay.M. Chaudary) “Christmas Tree Lane” vacation mild shows glow on this slow-shutter pace zoom publicity on Thompson Avenue in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group) Youngsters look contained in the church full of devotees singing carols and praying in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photograph/Niranjan Shrestha) Guests tour the forty first annual Deacon Dave’s Christmas show at Casa del Pomba in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The Deacon Dave Rezendes’s world-famous residence options greater than 900,000 lights glowing round his property. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group) A person sporting a nationwide costume celebrates Christmas close to St. Michael Monastery in a metropolis centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photograph/Efrem Lukatsky) Even pets are mesmerized by the forty first annual Deacon Dave’s Christmas show at Casa del Pomba in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The Deacon Dave Rezendes’s world-famous residence options greater than 900,000 lights glowing round his property. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)