How do we know Jesus was born on December 25th?

Hi, this is Fr. Rocky with another Advent Inspiration.

Everyone knows that Christ was born on Christmas Day, December 25th, but how do we know that? That’s an important and fascinating question, and I’ve spent the past twenty years searching for the answer, reading just about everything on the subject. We know for sure that Mary and Joseph knew the day Jesus was born because they were there. I am sure they told Jesus the day he was born just as our parents told us, and the Apostles would have learned that from Mary or Jesus or both.

But the first time December 25th shows up in any written record is 350 AD, so either written records were lost for 300 years, or that important information was passed on by word of mouth by the early Christians. It is also very fitting that Jesus Christ was born on the day the Ancient Romans regarded as the Winter Solstice (although by that time the calendar was off by four days) because with the Winter Solstice the days start getting longer and more light comes into the world.