Christmas

"There's quite a risk that we could have said, 'Oh, that's in the United States. That's not us,' " says Amma Asante, a former member of the Dutch Parliament. "And now there's no denial anymore."

"It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference," the pontiff said in his holiday address.

Saturday Night Live alum Ana Gasteyer's new Christmas album, Sugar & Booze, is partly a send-up of the holiday and partly an earnest embrace of its warmth.

The Fraser fir is found in a lot of homes around Christmas. But its wild cousins have been in decline for almost a century because of a small invasive pest.

In some historical Nativity scenes, the shepherds have grossly enlarged thyroid glands — also known today as goiter. It's an apparent symbol of their poverty and iodine-deficient diet.

The Tiny Desk concert series is old enough to have some traditions of its own. Here are five of our favorite holiday performances from over the years.

A new album commemorates the Centenary Service of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.

Across Europe and North America, throngs of Santa impersonators have been busy preparing children for Christmas. But in Germany, there's a lack of interest among people to play the jolly character.

Loss and pain are especially hard amidst the joy and tinsel of the holidays. A growing number of churches are offering "Blue Christmas" services to hold a space for often unwelcome feelings.

The country star thought it "would be a fun way to bring my old Christmas album back in the form of those old Christmas specials that we love."

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is back at the top of the chart a quarter century after it was first released. So why haven't there been any lasting Christmas songs to take its place?

A competition brought hundreds of architects, designers and engineers together to build a mini version of the Italian city out of Snickers, Mars bars, Jellybeans, cereal, gummy bears and more.