The biblical town of Bethlehem is marking what is shaping up to be a merry Christmas.
The biblical town of Bethlehem marked a merry Christmas on Saturday, with thousands of visitors descending upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic.
"We are celebrating Christmas this year in a very much different way than last year," Palestinian Tourism Minister Rula Maayah said. "We're celebrating Christmas with pilgrims coming from all over the world." Daisy Lucas, a 38-year-old Filipina who works in Israel, said it was a dream come true to mark the holiday in such an important place.
"We are living in very difficult challenges," he said, noting the war in Ukraine and a recent wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. "But the message of Christmas is a message of peace." Hundreds of millions of Christians were ushering in the holiday, wrapping up a tumultuous year characterized by conflict and violence in many parts of the world.
But off the central coast of Florida, where temperatures dropped as low as 27 degrees Fahrenheit , more than a hundred surfers dressed in Santa costumes braved the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the morning for an annual Christmas Eve Surfing Santas festival.
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