I find it disturbing, the amount of people who ignorantly call Christmas a "pagan holiday".
Here's the biblical truth. In Corinthians 1:8-13, God says this:
8 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.
10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Above, we see Paul addressing people scolding others because they eat meat sacrificed to idols. This is the exact same argument as scolding people for celebrating holidays that are supposedly pagan. It's as close as an analogy as you'll ever find. In both cases, you have someone wagging their finger at someone else for partaking in something that is supposedly dedicated to paganism.
To summarize, Paul is saying this:
There are no pagan gods. They're not real. "We know an idol is nothing". There are no other gods, only one God.
Paul then says feel free to chow down on that food sacrificed to idols, because we know idols aren't real and there are no pagan gods. It's ok, go ahead and do it.
But there's one caveat.
There are people who are completely ignorant of God's word. They don't realize pagan gods aren't real. They don't realize that meat sacrificed to idols is meaningless. When they see you eating the meat that is supposedly sacrificed to idols, it can be a stumbling block for them.
That's the only circumstance where you can't eat it.
Now bringing back the analogy to holidays such as Christmas or Easter, there are people who know God's word and there are fools who believe pagan gods are real. There are people who can take any holiday and make it a holiday in which God is exalted, and there are fools who scold anyone who would consider celebrating it.
And the ridiculous part is that Christians already revere Christmas and Easter, not as being pagan, but as being Christ-centered. If the analogy were 1 to 1 equal, December 25 and Easter could be openly advertised as pagan holidays and its still ok to celebrate them -- but instead they are already widely seen as being Christ-centered holidays. This makes the disparaging of these holidays extra ridiculous.
God says you can eat meat sacrificed to idols as long as you're giving Him the glory (and not surrounded by weak-minded fools who are ignorant of the bible). Certainly, you can also celebrate holidays that are widely seen as a celebration of God and Jesus.
One last thing -- to those who just can't wait to type in the comment section how much you hate celebrating Christmas, it's also American culture. Right now there are groups dedicated to stripping America of all culture. You don't like Christmas, and neither does the blue-haired TDS Karens. Ask yourself why your goals are so seamlessly aligning with the far left.
Yeah, I've kept Hanukkah since the 90s and phased out Christmas at that time. So I affirm you entirely. However, in the last couple years in continuing the path of studying the Hebrew roots I find that there was some (but not complete) validity in what the early church did.
Most know Herod died in 4 BC. Because Luke has Jesus returning to Nazareth right after the 40th day without easy insertion of a trip to Egypt afterward (though it's easy before), the death of Herod is very close to Jesus's birth, not 1-2 years off as people misread Matthew. Other evidence, including Abijah, puts it at fall of 4 BC, particularly the first day of Tabernacles (I say Sat 6 Oct Julian at 3 a.m.). When I tracked this back to the Annunciation and Conception, I find that Hanukkah began on 25 Dec Julian in 5 BC (25 Kislev) and that Simeon made ten references back to Haggai 2 who gives the prophetic date of blessings starting after 24 Kislev. Then when I accounted for how Hippolytus (and Clement of Alexandria) got their varying and conflicted data, the best answer is that there was an oral tradition of placing Jesus's conception on December 25, because Mary would've been aware of the Julian date of her visitation, seeing as she treasured all these things.
So by 200 according to those two fathers there were already various attempts to remember the birth of Christ, though it was far different from commercial "Christmas". The later formalization of December 25 (and the other three quarterly 25s) was a mistake. It is true that Aurelian completed a temple on December 25, 274, and set that up as a competing date with the Christian testimony of December 25 already being one of our own dates; but that doesn't prevent Rome from reclaiming the date later (even though they added mistaken details in folk practice).
Let me add, when I started this stuff (having been a Sunday keeper), I realized the seventh day was the Sabbath and asked God how the whole church could be ignorant. His answer was, if they can do so well without having the Biblical Sabbath, imagine how much better they'll do when they get it right. That is, there's a reason the church was permitted to rest on Sunday. In time I realized that there's a complementariness to Sabbath and Lord's Day and there's a way to accommodate both. Since last year I've realized that the same is true of Hanukkah and Christ's Mass. I've called a halt whenever I could show that a practice was pagan, but I also bided my time when I couldn't, and it appears the actual truth is more complex than any simple path and we need to recognize why God permitted these things in history.
When Jesus returns, if he tells everyone to rest on the seventh day and come to Jerusalem for Tabernacles, they will obey him, but he may have more nuanced commands for us and so we are doing our best to practice everything he may want of us in advance. That's my reason for keeping the Mosaic festivals, and it's also becoming my reason for purifying the churchianity dates. (I haven't linked any of my studies here, but feel free to ask, or to get started by searching for "Chronology" at c/Christianity.)