盡管耶穌的確切生日并不清楚，大約是在2000年前，但是日歷按著假定日期把時間分為公元前(耶穌基督誕生前)和公元后(A。 D。 是拉丁文縮寫，意思是“有了我們主--耶穌的年代”)。在公元后的頭三百年間，耶穌的生日是在不同的日子慶祝的。最后，在公元354年，教堂的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人把12月25日定為耶穌基督的生日。
The Origin of Christmas
Christmas Day-December 25-which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ， the founder of the Christian religion， is the biggest and best-loved holiday in the United States。
According to the Bible， the holy book of Christians， God decided to allow his only son， Jesus Christ， to be born to a human mother and live on earth so that people could understand God better and learn to love God and each other more。 "Christmas"- meaning "celebration of Christ "- honors the time when Jesus was born to a young Jewish woman Mary。
Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph， a carpenter， but before they came together， she was found to be with child。 Because Joseph， her husband， was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace， he had in mind to divorce her quietly。 But after he had considered this， an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said， "Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife， because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit。 She will give birth to a son， and you are to give him the name Jesus， because he will save his people from their sins。"
Although the exact date of the birth of Jesus nearly 2，000 years ago is not known， the calendar on the supposed date divides all time into B。C。 (Before Christ )and A。D。 ( a Latin phrase， Anno Domini， "in the year of our Lord。")For the first 300 years， Jesus" birthday was celebrated on different dates。 Finally， in the year 354， church leaders choose December 25 as his birthday。
耶穌出生的故事
耶穌的出生是有一段故事的，耶穌是因著圣靈成孕，由童女馬利亞所生的。神更派遣使者加伯列在夢中曉諭約瑟，叫他不要因為馬利亞未婚懷孕而不要她，反而要與她成親，把那孩子起名為“耶穌”，意思是要他把百姓從罪惡中救出來。
當(dāng)馬利亞快要臨盆的時候，羅馬政府下了命令，全部人民到伯利恒務(wù)必申報戶籍。約瑟和馬利亞只好遵命。他們到達伯利恒時，天色已昏，無奈兩人未能找到旅館渡宿，只有一個馬棚可以暫住。就在這時，耶穌要出生了!於是馬利亞唯有在馬槽上，生下耶穌。后人為紀(jì)念耶穌的誕生，便定十二月二十五為圣誕節(jié)，年年望彌撒，紀(jì)念耶穌的出世。
圣誕節(jié)便是於十二月二十五日紀(jì)念耶穌的誕生，但真實的誕生日就沒有人知道了。十九世紀(jì)，圣誕卡的流行、圣誕老人的出現(xiàn)，圣誕節(jié)也開始流行起來了。
