Diocese of Portsmouth
The Church of England
Advent & Christmas

Celebrating Christmas in 2025

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the greatest news the world has ever known – the mind-blowing idea that God chose to share in the joys and sorrows of being human.

Christmas resources

At Christmas 2025, we gathered at carol services, nativities, Christmas fayres, and parties to celebrate and hear the story of how Jesus became a vulnerable baby, born in a humble stable, so that he could ultimately become our Saviour. Among the various ways that we celebrated were Christmas tree festivals, Nativity re-enactments and drama performances. Read the news stories below to discover more about them.

The theme for this year’s Christmas campaign by the national Church of England was Joy, as we brought the joy of Christmas to our communities through our various services, fairs, nativities, tree festivals, performances and so much more. Find out more here, including the resources made available.

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Advent & Christmas

Christmas festivals and events

There were so many ways we celebrated the birth of Jesus – Christmas tree festivals, fairs, parties, fun days, live nativities, and so much more. Click here to read about Christmas tree festivals that took place in 2025.

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Carol services

We remembered the birth of Jesus with carol service celebrations in our churches. Click here to find out more.

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‘Chalking the Doors’ at Epiphany

There are a few different traditions for when the Christmas season ends and decorations are taken down. Many think of the twelfth day of Christmas as the end of the season, which often coincides with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th 2026, whilst a large number of churches wait until Candlemas (which is on February 2nd 2026) to remove their nativity display, which falls on the day we remember the presentation of Jesus in the temple and is traditionally a day when candles are blessed and given out.