"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone." Sol 2:11

"Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain." Ezra 10:9

"But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two; for we are many that transgressed in this thing." Ezra 10:13

(God says we are not to follow the ways of the heathen, [customs]. And this is not a matter which our Heavenly Father takes lightly.)

"Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good." Jer. 10:2-6

"Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so wll I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord, thy God; for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods." Deut 12: 30-31

The American Book of Days - by Douglas
Christmas- The day was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church. In fact the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom. Repugnant to christians.
The giving of presents on January 1 by the Romans has survived as the giving of Christmas remembrances, or as it is sometimes called, the exchange of presents.
The use of mistletoe is without doubt traced to the Druids, who regarded it with reverance long before the Christian era. In celebration of the winter solstice the druid priests gathered mistletoe and piled it on the altar of their god and burned it in sacrifice to him. The priests clad in white ceremonial robes for the occasion went into oak groves where the mistletoe grew on the trees and cut it with a golden sickle. Not only was the plant placed on the altar, but sprigs of it were distributed among the people and hung in their homes."

Christmas- from Catholic Encyclopedia
"This was the date of a pagan festival in Rome. Chosen in AD 274 by the Emperor Aurelian as the birthday of the unconquered Sun, which at the winter solstice begins again to show as increase in light. At some point before AD 336 the Church at Rome established the commeration of the birthday of Christ, the sun of Righteousness on this same date."

Catholic Encyclopedia 1911 ed. article Christmas
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church...the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt. Pagan customs entering around the January Calends gravitated to Christmas."

Encyclopedia Britannica 1946 ed.
"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church...It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from paganism."

Encyclopedia Americana 1944 ed.
"Christmas...It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church as the Christian usuage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth."

New Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
"Christmas..How much the date of the festival depended upon the pagan Brumalia (Dec 25) following the Saturnalia (Dec 17-24) and celebrating the shortest day of the year and the 'New Sun'..cannot be accurately determined.The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence...The pagan festival with its riot and merry making was so popular that Christians were glad of an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit and manner. Christian preachers of the west and the near east protested against the unseemly frivolity with which Christ's birthday was celebrated, while Christians of Mesopotamia accused their western brethren of idolatry and Sun worship for adopting as Christian this pagan festival."