December was probably chosen so the Catholic Church could compete with rival pagan rituals held at that time of year and because of its closeness with the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere, a traditional time of celebration among many ancient cultures.

It is now believed that Jesus was born between 7BC and 4BC. Around 350 years after Jesus's birth, Pope Julius 1 chose 25 December as the date of the Nativity.

(The years BC are those before the birth of Christ and the years AD are those after Christ's birth, from the Latin Anno Domini meaning 'in the year of our Lord'.)

The celebration of Christ’s incarnation at Christmas is one of the two poles of the Christian year along with Easter. Christmas is not simply a birthday celebration. Rather, its purpose is to recall people to the centrality of the Word made flesh for our salvation. It is Christ’s birth which does, of course, provide the setting for our celebration of Christ’s incarnation. The colour for the season of Christmas is white.

The abbreviation for Christmas to Xmas comes from the Greek alphabet. The use of the letter X is not new, it was widely used from the mid-15th century. X is the letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name in the Greek alphabet.

The correct pronunciation for the word ‘Xmas’ is ‘Christmas’, just as if the word were written out in full. Xmas is NOT ex-mas!

It is probably only with the last one hundred years that a crib or 'nativity scene' depicting the scene of Jesus's birth at Bethlehem became widespread in Anglican churches. St. Francis of Assisi (1181/2-1226) is credited with the first nativity scene in Grecchio in Italy in 1223. His was a 'living' nativity scene with real people acting out the parts of the characters in the Christmas story. This became quite popular in some parts of Europe. Static depictions (such as churches have now) developed, and some could be very elaborate.

Christmas cribs or nativity scenes usually show us Jesus, Mary and Joseph together with the shepherds and animals found in the stable where Jesus was born. On the 6th of January, the feast of the Epiphany, the coming of the wise men to visit Jesus is celebrated. The shepherds and animals are removed, and are replaced by the wise men. Cribs used to remain in churches until February 2nd when the presentation of Jesus in the Temple is celebrated. Now it is most common for cribs to be removed after the first Sunday of the Epiphany, the Baptism of Christ.