The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is murdered during the robbery.

The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.

The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

The first European Ariane rocket is launched.

Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.

District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

The crew of the USS ''Pueblo'' is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.

Apollo Program: The crew of ''Apollo 8'' enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.

NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition.

Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.

Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

France's Fourth Republic is founded.

World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.

World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.

World War II: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.

World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.

World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

Albania becomes a republic.

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

Several U.S. Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.

Library of Congress burns.

The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.

The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812.

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.

The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.