What is the significance of celebrating Christmas on the 25th?

My husband has to work on Christmas eve and Christmas day (he works in the medical field) and his shifts are arranged such that he will leave around 3PM on Christmas eve and won't be home until maybe 11PM Christmas day. (He will be sleeping at work in between shifts.) So we are planning on celebrating Christmas on the 23rd. My mom seems to think this is ridiculous. Does the day really even matter? I mean wasn't Christ actually born in like April?|||Any day is a good day to Celebrate Christmas. Much better to do it when your husband is awake and able to enjoy it. December 25 was chosen as a result of an agreement among religious leaders in the 4th Century; there is no evidence that it was the actual birth date of Jesus Christ.





The Q%26amp;A pasted below also explains how Americans developed their Christmas traditions.|||Actually we don't really know when is the day that Christ was born. December 25th only represents that Christ is born like us as a person and it doesn't really matter if you would be celebrating Christmas on the 23rd because it would be nicer if your celebrating with your family in the 23rd rather than celebrating without one of your family in the 25th.|||you know if your mom thinks it's weird.. that's okay(: at leastt you can celebreate it with your honey on that day.. while the rest of the world does what society thinks is the only proper way and celebrating it on the 25.. hahaha i say whatever(: sometimes you have to work around life.|||yeah, i think He was, and it being on the 25th has a pagan background, but im not sure of the details. anyway, that doesnt take away anything from it for me, and neither would celebrating it a couple of days early. why not?|||Christ was born on dec 25, but died and came back to life on easter. U can celebrate it on the 23 if u want, but I feel sorry that u have to work on christmas|||go ahead and do the 23rd, your mom is crazy|||Hi Raggedyanne. To understand the significance of celebrating Christmas on the 25th, we have to go back to the time of Roman Emperor Constantine. In hopes of stopping the rampant paganism during that time, he declared Christianity to be his religion, and thus Christianity should be practiced.





During those times, December 25 is actually when pagans celebrate the birthday of the sun. It is not uncommon to find in history that to stop paganism and encourage Christianity to the people, leaders back then adapt a pagan holiday or practice or tradition, and change their meaning to something that is relevant to Christianity. And December 25 as we know it is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the God who created everything (including the sun), and chose to become man because of His great love to all mankind.





On the other hand, according to some scholars, the reason for choosing this date has nothing to do with the pagans, rather with the complex calculations of dates based on stars and solstice and equinoxes.





Nonetheless, I think that the kind of "celebration" you are saying is being with your family, maybe having a family reunion, sharing a meal, and exchanging gifts. This kind of celebration, in my opinion, doesn't matter if you have it on the 25th or the 23rd. The real essence of Christmas, for me, is remembering God's love for us and sharing that love with the people around us--in spending time with our family and friends, and sharing what we have to those who are in need.





Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your family!