In response to my post on Christmas and the Great Apostasy, a commenter brought up the proposition (often repeated in the modern day) that Christmas is a essentially a Christianization of a pagan holiday (Saturnalia). The commenter linked Christmas to idolatry. At the time, I gave only the simple response that I choose to follow what the Catholic Church has to say about Christmas and the date thereof.
While such a response is sufficient for me, I recognize it is unlikely to be a sufficient response for the commenter and for many who may read the post. While I have not had the opportunity to research the history of the date of Christmas further, fortunately Dr. Taylor Marshall has. He has produced a short tract on the subject which makes, I feel, a compelling case that Christ was, in fact, born on December 25, at midnight, in the year of Our Lord. You can find the tract here.
You can read more about Dr. Marshall here.
I would just like to add on this octave day of Christmas, the Feast of the Circumcision, that it is fitting and right to have great joy at the birth of Christ. Will He, Who commanded us to love our neighbor, be displeased by our giving gifts to one another in His honor? Or will He, the Light of the World, who was hung upon a tree for our sins, be displeased if we place lights on a Christmas tree to honor His birth? Will He Who led the wise men to Him by the light of a star be displeased if we draw close to Him by the symbol of a star atop a Christmas tree?
We are looking forward to two more Christmas feasts, the Epiphany (Jan. 6) and the Presentation (Feb 2). We gentiles should rejoice greatly at both feasts. At the Epiphany, Christ is revealed to the gentiles for the first time. At the Presentation of the Child Jesus, we recall those words of Simeon, “A light unto the gentiles and the glory of his people Israel”. Jesus was the expected of the nations. Let us who are blessed to live after His first coming–we gentiles who can rightly call Abraham our patriarch because of Christ–never grow lukewarm in our gratitude to Him, the Infant of Bethlehem.