DECEMBER 10, 2025

“Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem.  May we let ourselves be enlightened by the light that comes from Bethlehem, the light of Christ.”

–Pope Benedict XVI.

You probably learned that Christians placed Christmas on December 25th to co-opt Saturnalia, the Roman Empire’s mid-winter festival, or possibly the Festival of the Unconquered Sun — Sol Invictus. The theory went that Christians could get the heathen to convert by co-opting the pagan holidays.

There is one problem — it sounds more convincing than it is. These theories only became popular once comparative religion became trendy after the eighteenth century. Going back to the earliest Christian church finds evidence that Christmas, though not initially celebrated, had been commemorated well before the Feast of the Unconquered Sun’s creation for entirely Christian reasons. In fact, it is possible Emperor Aurelian instituted Sol Invictus on December 25 to combat Christianity’s belief that Jesus was born that day.

In Egypt, less than three hundred years after Christ’s death, some Christians celebrated his birth in the spring. The earliest references to Christmas come at about 200 A.D., at a time Christians were not incorporating other religious traditions into their own. In fact, Christians at the time were trying very hard to blend in as citizens while avoiding participation in the various pagan festivals and activities. By 300 A.D., many Christians were celebrating Jesus’s birth around December 25th. Within a hundred years, Christmas was on the calendar record. Christians looked to December because the early church was far more interested in Jesus’s death. His death and resurrection is what matters to the Gospel and that was the date the early church focused on.

“Around 200 A.D. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan in the year Jesus died was the equivalent to March 25 in the Roman calendar,” reported Andrew McGowan at the Biblical Archaeology Society. That would be the day of Crucifixion. The math from there is rather simple. Nine months later would be December 25. Early church history held as fact that the prophets and martyrs of the church were conceived on the day they died. So if Christ died on March 25, it was also the anniversary of his conception.

Separately, and more directly from the Bible, Luke 1 tell us Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father, was in the priestly division of Abijah. Based on a calculation of this and the division of priest in the temple in 70 A.D. when the temple fell, a number of early Church historians presumed Zacharias would have been in the temple in late September or early October. Later historians, however, speculate it would have been June. The Gospel of Luke tells us when Zacharias left the temple, his wife conceived. “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazaerth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David,” Luke 1:25-26 notes.

The early church concluded that six months after Zacharias left the temple would be March as Mary’s time of conception. Fast forward nine months and again we find ourselves in December. Given the respect held for Tertullian, everything aligned. With the very earliest Church fathers settling on March 25th as Christ’s death and believing fully that Christ’s death would occur on the anniversary of his conception, the early church reinforced its belief well before there is any written accusation or evidence of the church incorporating Saturnalia or Sol Invictus into its celebrations. It is important to note, however, that most scholars reject setting Christ’s birth to Zacharias’s temple service because of problems related to really knowing when he was there.

But there are two final points. One can look at all of this and conclude the church fathers got it wrong. But the real question is whether they themselves thought they got it wrong. They were pretty sure they were right. The earliest Christians refused to celebrate birthdays, but by 300 A.D., there was growing evidence the Church noted Christ’s birthday around December 25th. Second, the date of Christ’s birth is not important. What is important is that He is.

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Gasoline is under $3.00 per gallon in 37 States. WINNING!

Energy prices are falling across the country. What this means is that the cost of goods are being reduced, because energy factors into everything in our economy. Democrats are constantly complaining that prices are going up. They are lying.

Representative Jasmine Crockett (D. Tx.) is running for the Democrat nomination to be Texas’s next U.S. Senator. This is great news for the Republican nominee, whoever he might be.

“Elon Musk is about to become the first trillionaire.  The reason poverty exists in the wealthiest country on earth isn’t because we can’t feed the poor — it’s because we can’t satisfy the rich.  We should tax trillionaires out of existence.”

–Texas State Representative James Talarico (D.), who is also seeking the Democrat nomination for the U.S. Senate.

The United States federal government spends more than $1 trillion annually on alleviating poverty. Since 1964, more than $22 trillion has been spent by federal government in its “War on Poverty”. Well guess, what? All that money was spent, and we lost the “War on Poverty”. Eliminating 1 trillionaire, or all trillionaire, or all the billionaires will not solve the problem. It will just make folks like James Talarico feel superior.

Democrats always want to punish success. Punishing the successful will not help a single person in poverty or other dire circumstances. What we all should want is more successful people, not fewer. As President John F. Kennedy observed in pushing his tax cut plan, “a rising tide lifts all boats”. Just so.

“All of us need to wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and say ‘What am I doing specifically today . . . to make our immigrants [illegal aliens] feel more welcome.'”

–Senator John Curtis (R. Ut.).

No.  No, no, no, NO!

John Curtis is what is wrong with the Republican Party.  They are a bunch of squishes who desire media approval above all else.  It is a fool’s errand, and completely unprincipled.

John Curtis is only a Republican, because he left the Democrat Party.  He was the Utah State Party Chair, and became a Republican because he wanted to ascend to elected office.  In Utah, that means running as a Republican.

Republican voters need to resist the urge to vote for a candidate just because he has an “R” after his name.  The Doles, Bushes, Cheneys, McCains, Romneys, et al. have done enough damage.  No more!

Appearing on CNN, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D. Il.) stated that she saw the video of the missiles blowing up the drug trafficking boat and found it “disgusting”. She demanded that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth resign immediately. Upon closer questioning by host Dana Bash, Senator Duckworth admitted that she had not seen the video. But she still demanded Secretary Hegseth resign, based on the video she has not seen. What a Leftist hack!

“When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.”

–Representative Ilhan Omar (D. Mn.).

Nice.  Stephen Miller is an observant Jew. 

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D. N.Y.) released a video urging New York city residents to “stand up to ICE”, and advising illegal aliens on how to evade arrest by federal authorities. Utterly insane.

There was another stabbing of a passenger on the Charlotte, North Carolina Light Rail System. Thankfully, this time the victim survived the attack. The attacker was an illegal alien, which is unsurprising since Charlotte considers itself a “sanctuary city”. He is charged with attempted murder. And assuming he is convicted, and ever released from State prison, he will be deported. Again. Because this is not his first rodeo.

Georgia State Representative Sharon Henderson (D.) is charged with the fraudulent theft of pandemic funds. What is it about Democrats and the fraudulent use of welfare funds?

“Let’s be honest, whiteness is being weaponized everywhere right now.  It’s in our politics, our media, our police forces, our borders. Instead of reading the room, Pantone basically branded it a lifestyle.  It’s not just out of touch, it’s symbolic.  It’s a reminder of who still controls the narrative.  They are openly mocking us, choosing purity white as the cultural color of the year while the rest of us are screaming for humanity.”

–Social media “Karens” melting down over Pantone announcing that “Cloud Dancer”, an off white color, was its “Color of the Year” for 2026.

Pittsburgh will play East Carolina in the Military Bowl. Clemson will play Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl. Georgia Tech will play BYU in the Pop Tarts Bowl. UVA will face off against Missouri in the Gator Bowl. USC will play TCU in the Alamo Bowl. Arizona State and Duke will play in the Sun Bowl. Michigan will play Texas in the Citrus Bowl. Wake Forest will play Mississippi State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. And Arizona will play SMU in the Holiday Bowl.

There are too many bowls. I did not come close to listing them all. But come on; the Pop Tarts Bowl? The Duke’s Mayo Bowl? Good grief!

Notre Dame threw a hissy fit after not getting into the College Football Playoffs, and turned down a bowl invitation. Iowa State and Kansas State turned down bowl invitations, and were fined $500,000.00 each by the Big 12 Conference.

Notre Dame’s hissy fit gathered results, as the CFP Committee promised in writing that in the future, if Notre Dame was ranked in the Top 12, it was guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Huh. What about Duke? It won the ACC championship.

The Washington Post blames the ACC for Notre Dame’s exclusion. The Post’s shaky premise is that Miami should have been allowed to play in the conference championship game, even though Miami did not earn a slot in the championship game. And just how does the Post know that Miami would have won that game, if it had played in it?

Sigh. No one reads the Post’s sports page anyway.

“I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say they have certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the [ACC] conference and Notre Dame.”

–Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua.

Notre Dame is a member of the ACC in every sport except football. The school wants the benefits of conference membership without responsibility, and without football revenue sharing. GROW UP, IRISH! Join the ACC in full for goodness sakes, and stop acting like a petulant child!

The irony is that if Notre Dame were a football member of the ACC, it likely would have played in the championship game, and it likely would have won that game. Which means that Notre Dame would have been chosen as the ACC champion in the CFP. But because Notre Dame deems itself above all other schools with conference affiliations, and insists on being independent, its team will be sitting at home. Watching the CFP on television.

Donald Huffman, lawyer, political activist, and Washington & Lee University law school graduate, has died at age 98. R. I. P.

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”
– George Lorimer.

GFK