Christmas was born in London, England, and later emigrated to Canada. His role as a priest in the 1971 film Harold and Maude includes a memorable monologue to an off-camera Harold, in which he discusses, with increasing nausea and disgust, how the thought of Harold’s sexual affair with a much older woman “makes [him] want…to vomit.” His other film roles include Monte Walsh (1970), The Andromeda Strain (1971), Johnny Got His Gun (1971), The Last Tycoon (1976), An Enemy of the People (1978), Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978), The Changeling (1980), Middle Age Crazy (1980), The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), All of Me (1984), Bugsy (1991), Almost Dead (1994), Air Bud (1997) and his final feature film MouseHunt (1997).

Christmas also made guest appearances in many television shows, including Adventures in Rainbow Country, Due South, ER, Night Court, Wiseguy (as Harry “The Hunch” Shanstra), Seinfeld (as Jeffery Harharwood in “The Gum”—Episode 120, first airing on December 14, 1995), Cheers, Home Improvement (as Sir Larry the Magician), Coach (as Brian Currie), The Golden Palace, The X-Files, Booker, Matlock, Walker Texas Ranger, Roseanne, L.A. Law (as Buzz Carr), Major Dad and Ally McBeal. From 1995-96 he played Father Francis on Days of Our Lives, a key role in the infamous possession of Marlena Evans. He came to San Diego to teach and to revive the La Jolla Playhouse, for which he directed “The Man Who Came to Dinner” in temporary space at La Jolla High School, with equity actor Larry Seaman in the lead role, and also starring Robert Zimmerman (BHP-San Francisco Faculty) as the reporter and James Pearson as Banjo (Harpo Marx role) [La Jolla Light, November 12, 1981]. Christmas also acted in and directed productions of San Diego, California’s Old Globe Theatre’s Shakespeare Festivals for many years. During the 1970s and 1980s, Christmas was a drama professor at the University of California, San Diego, and made theatrical presentations at local high schools, including La Jolla Country Day School. He died on July 22, 2000, from natural causes at the age of 84.