Christmas

Is it pagan?

I wrote an article addressing this, which you can find here: On Christmas

TL;DR: it probably has pagan elements. It seems that the date for Christmas was a consequence of calculating His conception to be during Passover, rather than porting Saturnalia to Christianity. It seems likely to me that some elements were brought over by Romans forcibly converted to Christianity, but there is no historical record of syncretism.

I am not in favor of celebrating the day. The point about it being "pagan" is technically week. To me, the point is that it is held in such esteem when the festivals that God ordained are discarded. In their place is a man-made tradition that doesn't have much going for it apart from the sentiment of cheer and giving that we associate with it.