Hi Richard.  Yeah, "Christ-Mass" was appropriated by the Christian religion to celebrate the birth of their savior; one of the early PR moves of a nascent church in the Roman Empire, where the birth of Mithra was widely celebrated on December 25th---A national holiday, if you will.  It was also the birthday of Attis, son of the virgin Nana---and Osiris, and Dionysus---Ever hear of them?---no few of which were born of virgins and died as martyrs.  Go figure, huh? 

The world didn't start with Christianity, believe it or not, nor did human civilization; and many were celebrating winter solstice long before it was cool.

Happy Holidaze