Let There be Christmas Lights
Madrid, Spain
People walk under the Puerta del Sol Square's Christmas tree lights on Nov. 27, 2011, in Madrid, Spain. Streets of the capital are decorated with lights every year ahead of Christmas celebrations, but this season Madrid used the same lights due to the nation's economic crisis.
The lights of the world's biggest floating Christmas tree are turned on Nov. 26 at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The tree is 278 feet tall and is lit by 3.3 million light bulbs.
The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on Nov. 25 in Salisbury, England. The service - which begins with the medieval cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End -is one of the most popular services of the liturgical year.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is lit Nov. 30 in New York.
Watch as our cameras capture the intricate process that transforms and illuminates a 12-ton Christmas tree in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza.
A house is decorated with Christmas lights Dec. 1 in a street in the village of Calle, near the northern German town of Bremen. The sign reads: Merry Christmas.
A woman takes picture in front of a Christmas tree Dec. 1 during a lighting ceremony in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria.
Some 70,000 people look at the "Kobe Luminarie" illumination Dec. 1 at a shopping mall in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture, western Japan. The annual light festival, which began in 1995 to boost the spirits of locals who experienced the Kobe earthquake in January 1995, or the 'Great Hanshin Earthquake' as it is known in Japan, will continue through Dec. 12.
Brothers Beckman, 3, Preston, 6, and Westley Giang, 5, from left, are transfixed as holiday lights are switched on Nov. 27 for the first time this season at their house in Brea, Calif. Homeowners in the Eagle Hills neighborhood of Brea began decorating for the season in earnest.
Christmas lights in the shape of the Eiffel Tower shine near the real thing (in the background) Nov. 27 on the Rue Saint Charles in Paris.
Shoppers walk beneath Christmas lights Nov. 27 on South Moulton Street in London, England.
A man blows his trumpet from the Old Town Hall Tower as a Christmas tree is illuminated Nov. 26 at the Old Town Square in Prague.
Christmas lights illuminate Vienna's city centre Am Graben on Nov. 24.
Vehicles drive along a festively illuminated Kurfuerstendamm on Nov. 22 in Berlin.
