A friend of ours, an excellent Bible teacher visited Israel a few years ago. Of course she came home loaded with photos of places most of us can only hope to see.
As she presented each photo, she was careful to say that this particular spot is “thought to be the place” where this or that incident in the life of Christ took place. The answer was, “within a mile or two” of that spot.
So I say “Is Dec. 25th the real date of Jesus’s birth? Ah, within a month or two, not to mention, even a year or two.
Those of us on earth will never know the exact date, but I don’t think it matters. Really, we are talking about three months max. It doesn’t matter.
I don’t care what month it was, what year it was. I also do not care how many of the traditions I choose to incorporate into our celebration are supposed have pagan beginnings.
None of it is relevant. This is how I choose to celebrate the birth of Christ.