Celebrating December Feasts and Saints

In December we celebrate Christ’s birth, but it is a month of feasts and of saints of every description. 

The liturgy of Advent focuses on remembering Christ's first coming at Bethlehem which then directs our mind to Christ's Second Coming at the end of time. The readings focus on the people of the Old Testament awaiting the Messiah, John the Baptist, heralding the way for Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary and her maternal preparations.
The main Feasts of Advent are St. Francis Xavier (December 3), St. John Damascene, (December 4), St. Nicholas (December 6), St. Ambrose (December 7), Immaculate Conception (December 8), St. Juan Diego (December 9), St. Damascus (December 11), Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12), St. Lucy (December 13), St. John of the Cross (December 14), St. Peter Canisius (December 21) and St. John of Kanty (December 23).

Christmastide begins with the Vigil of Christmas on December 24th and ends on the Sunday after Epiphany. Christmas and Easter are the only solemnities with octaves attached since Vatican II. The Christmas octave differs from Easter in that it includes some major feasts: St. Stephen (December 26), St. John the Evangelist (December 27) the Holy Innocents (December 28), St. Thomas Becket (December 29), The feast of the Holy Family (December 30), and St. Sylvester I (December 31). The octave closes on Sunday, January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.