Christmas Countdown
A live countdown to Christmas Day, ticking down to the second in your own time zone.
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Counts to midnight on December 25 in your device's time zone. Leave this page open and it keeps ticking.
How many days until Christmas?
The big numbers above show the exact time left until Christmas Day, December 25, down to the second. The countdown runs on your own device clock and time zone, so it hits zero at midnight wherever you are, not in some other country. On Christmas Day itself it wishes you a Merry Christmas, and from December 26 it starts counting down to next year.
How the countdown works
It takes the moment Christmas begins (00:00 on December 25) and subtracts the current time, then splits what is left into days, hours, minutes and seconds.
Time left = midnight on December 25 − now
"Sleeps" counts the nights left, which is the number of calendar dates between today and Christmas. Kids tend to ask in sleeps, and it is the same as the number of times you will go to bed before Christmas morning.
Worked example
On October 28, 2026 there are 3 days left in October (29, 30 and 31), all 30 days of November, and 25 days of December up to Christmas. That makes 3 + 30 + 25 = 58 sleeps, or about 8.3 weeks. Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday, and by October 28 we are 307 of the 365 days, or about 84%, of the way from Christmas 2025.
Handy Christmas planning milestones
- About 8 weeks out: set a gift budget and draw names for Secret Santa so everyone has time to shop.
- About 4 weeks out: Advent starts. Order anything that ships from far away, and book travel if you have not already.
- About 2 weeks out: check last shipping dates with your carrier, as they usually fall in the week before Christmas.
- 1 week out: plan the food, defrost times included, and wrap what you have.
Tips
- Keep the page open on a spare screen or tablet for a live Christmas clock. It keeps ticking without refreshing.
- Use the Secret Santa generator to draw names for family, friends or the office without anyone getting themselves.