That would be the early church, the pilgrims, the founding fathers of America, and the early settlers.
The preacher Spurgeon called the observation of Christmas "superstition."
It's confusing to me with my yearly Christmas trees still boxed as yet. I have only just yet heard of this historical resistance to celebrating Christmas among the most respectable groups of Christians in history.
The reference is always brought up to the golden calf in Exodus.
Aaron says to the Israelis, "This is the god who brought you out of Egypt." and "Tomorrow we will have a feast unto Jehovah." So they were worshiping the golden calf for the Lord? Sounds crazy.
God was so angry He wanted to kill them all but after Moses' intercession He only killed 3,000.
The Christian heroes of the past wouldn't participate in Christmas, not going along with "It doesn't mean that to me," in regards to Saturnalia and the pagan baal worshipping roots of most of the Christmas traditions.
Why are we doing what the early church and the pilgrims and the founding fathers and the settlers vehemently opposed, celebrating Christmas?
I honestly am not being argumentative, and I hope someone has some insight, hopefully biblical insight, not Catholic/pagan tradition insight.
Never mind...
The Origins of the term 'Xmas'
The familiar abbreviation for Christmas originated with the Greeks. X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Xristos. By the sixteenth century, "Xmas" was popular throughout Europe. Whereas early Christians had understood that the term merely was Greek for "Christ's mass," later Christians, unfamiliar with the Greek reference, mistook the X as a sign of disrespect, an attempt by heathen to rid Christmas of its central meaning. For several hundred years, Christians disapproved of the use of the term. Some still do.
From Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati: Harper & Row.
I never heard of a "respectable" group of Christians. The apostles were the first, and what a group of goofs they were. Jesus was constantly telling them how dumb they were. He was right.
But I have no problem with you celebrating or not celebrating based on what some group said you ought to do. It isn't up to me.
If you ask the holy spirit what to do, and your heart is humble, and you ask Christ to forgive you if you interpret wrongly, you will be forgiven. That's my take, and "heaven help me" if I'm wrong.