From soldiers who donned red Santa hats in Afghanistan to devoted worshippers visiting Bethlehem, the world celebrated Christmas on Monday with the sobering thoughts of peace and tolerance even as open war raged in Somalia.
Pope Benedict XVI used his Christmas Day address at the Vatican to call for a solution to conflicts worldwide and appealed for greater caring of the poor, the exploited and all who suffer.
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So while some people celebrated a white Christmas in some parts of the world, there were others who took to the pool to cool off in the festive season.
At the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, pews were packed with hundreds of worshippers, but the tourists were few. Though bells pealed and decorative lights shone in Manger Square, foreign visitors critical to Bethlehem's economy were largely absent, apparently deterred by recent Palestinian infighting and years of conflict with Israel.
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Queen Elizabeth II, in her annual Christmas broadcast, called for religious tolerance and mutual respect between the young and old in fast-changing world.
In Asia, Christians in the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, defied terror warnings and flocked to heavily guarded churches, while foreign troops in Afghanistan woke up to a white Christmas and snowball fights.
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