"Indeed, it is
admitted by the most learned and candid writers of all parties that
the day of our Lord's birth cannot be determined, and that within
the Christian Church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of
until the third century, and that not till the fourth century was
far advanced did it gain much observance."
- The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop, p.
92-93
"So again Origen
had evidently some similar thought before him when he
insists that "of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded
to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It
is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great
rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world
below" (Origen, in Levit., Hom. VIII, in Migne P.G., XII, 495)."
- Natal Day, Catholic Encyclopedia, (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10709a.htm)