It's Christmas time... Celebrations kick off around the world as clocks strike midnight (Photos)

Christmas celebrations have kicked off around the world today as revellers across different timezones toasted the clock striking midnight.

At the Vatican Pope Benedict XVI held his annual Christmas night holy mass at St Peter's Basilica to mark the nativity of Jesus Christ.

In Florida, around 150 surfing Santas, elves, snowmen and other Christmas characters took to the water in Cocoa Beach.
The George Trosset's Surfing Santa event Christmas in the Sand event raised money for Grind for Life, which helps people with cancer.

In the West Bank town of Bethlehem celebrations were held at Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

Thousands of tourists and Christian Arabs took to the streets, along with the annual Scouts parade and a protest by workers against mass layoffs.

Along the coast of Valparaiso city, about 75 miles northwest of Santiago, in Chile, fishermen organised a Santa Claus boat trip as people waited on the shore to receive their Christmas presents and well-wishes.

In Baghdad, Iraq, behind blast walls and with police nearby, 200 worshipers attended Christmas mass at the city's Our Lady of Salvation Church, which officially reopened this month after a massacre in 2010.

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