Merry Christmas?

I was just watching the news on TV. The American people are really getting into the Christmas spirit! I watched the film of people amassed outside of a store awaiting the opening of the doors. As soon as the doors opened, they were pushing and shoving. One man started beating another. That's the spirit!
I do not "do" Christmas anymore because it does not honor Christ. It is about shopping and shopping. It doesn't even remotely have anything to do with Jesus anymore, as far as I can tell.
I looked into the origins of the holiday and here is what my 1963 American Peoples Encyclopedia said, in part:

A festival was celebrated at this season, however, long before it was held sacred as the birthday of Jesus Christ. The Saturnalia of the Romans and the winter festival of the heathen Britons were both celebrated about December 25, as was the later Roman festival in honor of the sun god Mithra, which gave it the name "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun." This name was given a symbolic interpretation after the festival was adopted by the Christian church in the fourth century as the anniversary of Christ's birth.
Many customs associated with the Christmas season have pagan origins.

The above was written before Christmas became politically incorrect and lacks the shocking details of the origins of most of the customs practiced at this time of year. People generally are just doing what their moms and dads, and their grandparents did for generations. They don't know why they are doing it; it's tradition.
It reminds me of the story about the woman preparing to bake a Christmas ham. She cut both ends off of the ham before placing it in the pan. Her husband asked her, "Honey, why did you cut the ends off the ham?" She replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it." So he asks his mother-in-law why she did it and the mother-in-law says, "I don't know. My mother always did it." So he asks his wife's grandmother why she always cut the ends off of the ham. She said "I cut off the ends so it would fit into the small baking pan."
We do things by tradition which sometimes make no sense, but we do them anyway and pass them on to the next generation. When we do these things innocently, there is no harm. But once we know that the meat doesn't need the ends cut off because the pan is big enough to hold it, should we still cut off the ends?
After I learned more than I ever wanted to know about Christmas, I could no longer take part in the festival. I try to honor Christ every day. I often read the account of his birth in the scriptures and I marvel at the obedience of Mary. It was not an easy thing to have a baby out of wedlock in those days. She literally risked her life. And her fiance could have dumped her if he chose to think that the angel which spoke to him was not real. There is no way I would believe an angel would come to me in a dream. I would just figure it was a dream of wishful thinking.
Did you know that the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower were very religious and they didn't celebrate Christmas because they thought of it as a pagan holiday? Christmas was illegal in early colonial life.
The Pilgrims didn't come here with the simple idea of founding colonies here. There were already Christian settlers in the New World before the Pilgrims got here in 1620. There was a mission in Florida in 1541 and one in Maine in 1604. The so-called Pilgrims came here to practice and propagate their own brand of Christianity, which was basic and pure. They relied heavily on prayer and believed that God was in charge. Their stated mission in the Mayflower Compact, in part, was to spread the Gospel of Christ. Even though half of their group died during the first winter, they held to their faith and their mission. They held regular religious observances, but Christmas wasn't one of them.
To learn more about the origins of Christmas, Google Michael Rood and Rood Awakening. He has humorous video on the subject on his website.
Without any research, just look around and try to find a connection between the Biblical Christ and Christmas. I don't see it. If you do, let me know. Open my eyes. In the meantime, I will not participate in the festivities.