How many days until Christmas Eve?

Christmas Eve, 24 December, is when a lot of the actual celebrating happens in many Australian households, particularly those with European heritage where it's traditionally the biggest night of the season — a family dinner, midnight mass for some, and presents opened that evening rather than waiting for Christmas morning.

Because it falls deep in summer, Christmas Eve here often means an evening barbecue that runs late into a warm, light-filled night rather than anything cosy by a fire. Coastal towns fill up as families arrive for the holidays, and supermarkets are famously chaotic on the 24th as everyone does their last-minute shop at once.

This countdown gives the exact time remaining until Christmas Eve arrives, which is useful for anyone coordinating a big family gathering, finishing the present-wrapping, or simply working out how many shopping trips are left before the shelves empty out.