Christmas comes early in the week this year and won’t take place on a weekend again until 2021 (Saturday). Last year Christmas Day was on a Sunday.
This year – 2017 – Christmas Day falls on a Monday as does New Years Day for 2018. Obviously, Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and New Years Eve (Dec. 31) is on a Sunday night this year.
It is the first time Christmas Day has been on a Monday since 2006. Next year – 2018 – Christmas Day will fall on a Tuesday and in 2019 it will fall on a Wednesday. Thursday is the next poor day to be skipped as 2020 is a Leap Year. In 2020, Christmas Day will take place on a Friday.
The date of December 25 as the date of the birth of Jesus Christ has been disputed for centuries. Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria wrote around AD 200: “There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth but also the day. And they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus and in the 25th day of Pachon [Egyptian May 20) … Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or April 21].”
December 25 was the date of the shortest day [Winter Solstice] on the Roman calendar and early Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo said in sermon: “Hence it is that He was born on the day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the once whence light begins to increase.”
