The signs, of course, are everywhere. Jesus perched in a manger delightfully free of rats, ticks, and other vermin, while cattle stand ruminantly nearby and three wise men oversee a remarkably Caucasian Mary and Joseph fawning over a newborn babe, while shepherds with robes acquired from a store whose name is the nearest Aramaic equivalent of "the Gap" adore their new shepherd.

It's a beautiful scene, and one as fictional as that of the ever controversial Mr. Claus (who, scholars now believe, is indirectly related to Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor. The leap is reasonable, if you think about it. The tool man breaks things, the elves fix them. But I digress...). Winter solstice is the reason for the season (and pie....let us not forget the pie!), rather than Jesus.

See, the Gospels are silent on the birthday of Christ. What clues we can gather from the context of the writings would have him born, depending on which scholars you would believe, in the spring or the fall, but almost certainly NOT on December 25th. It would be remarkably convenient to date it thus, but it would also be inaccurate.

And the number of wise men present was almost certainly NOT three (more likely, three hundred. In those days, such a lengthy journey would not be undertaken by such a small party). And they almost certainly were not there just after Joseph snipped the umbilical cord. More likely, their arrival would have been closer to two years following Jesus' birth. This would explain why Herod ordered all baby boys under the age of two years old killed.

So why the celebration of Christmas? It's no secret, really. It has been documented multiple times how the holiday was adopted around the pagan winter solstice celebrations. The symbols have been explained enough that my repeating them here without citing sources would almost border on plagiarism, so I'll just leave it to you and google to figure out anything you may not know.

That brings up the question, then. Should Christians observe the holiday of Christmas? Frankly, as a pretty fundamentalist Christian, the question haunted me for awhile. There's nothing remotely Christian about Christmas. But the truth is, Christmas is in many ways a national holiday even if it has its religious roots. Now, some folks may disagree with me on this, but Christmas is potentially as ecumenical a holiday as you can get. It's a time to relax, a time to enjoy family and friends, and a time to show those family and friends how much you love them (and a time for PIE...it's all about the PIE!!!). In our fast paced world, those ideas, those concepts are badly needed. We don't take enough time to relax, we don't take enough time to show our families how much we love them, and as time gradually slips away from us, the chances become fewer and fewer for us to do so. As sobering a thought as it is, this may be the last Christmas you have to spend with some of your loved ones, so spend it wisely.

So, to answer my question: should a Christian celebrate Christmas? I'll leave it to the apostle Paul to answer that one for me:

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath [days]: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ. (Col 2:16, 17).