Christmas Traditions: Are they from the Bible?

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I saw a few posts about whether or not Jesus was born on December 25th. There were so many different ideas about this, so I thought that going to the Bible might be the best place to find the answer. The first thing I thought about was this: Are any birth days of anyone mentioned in the Bible? Actually, YES, TWO are mentioned: At Genesis 40:20, Pharaoh's birthday is mentioned. And at Matthew 14:6 Herod's birthday is mentioned. Both of these men were PAGANS. Certainly not, worshippers of God or followers of Jesus. In fact, it was at Herod's birthday celebration that he ordered that John the Baptist be beheaded. How did Jesus feel about this? Reading further in the Bible it says: Herod "sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the maiden (who had requested it) and she brought it to her mother. Finally his disciples (John's) came up and removed the corpse and buried him and came and reported to Jesus. At hearing this Jesus withdrew from there by boat into a lonely place for isolation, but the crowds ...followed him." There is no mention in the Bible of any of the early Christians celebrating birthdays and in fact the encyclopedia I researched says that the early Christians did NOT celebrate birthdays. It was strictly a PAGAN celebration. Then, I wondered, what about Jesus. If he had wanted his birthday celebrated, would he not have recorded the date of his birth? Only the shepherds were told when he was born and they were out in the fields at night, tending their sheep, according to Luke 2:8 which says: "There were also in that same country shepherds living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their sheep..." It's a well-known fact that shepherds don't live out of doors in December in Israel. Their sheep are under cover during the cold winters there. Also, when I thought more about it, I considered the trip that Joseph and Mary had to make to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Can you imagine them walking or riding on a donkey for all those miles in the winter? Then, I read the story again in Matthew the 2nd chapter and notice that the "wise men" came to Jerusalem to find Jesus, calling him "the one born king of the Jews." Herod was agitated. So I read on. Matthew 2:4 "on gathering together all of the chief priests and scribes ...he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born...Then Herod secretly summoned the astrologers and carefully ascertained from them the time of the star's appearing and when sending them to Bethlehem he said: "Go make a careful search for the young child and when you have found it report back to me... the star came to a stop about where the young child was... Where was Jesus at that point? Was he a "babe in the manger?" NO. Verse 10 says "on seeing the star...they went into the HOUSE...saw the young child with Mary his mother...and presented him with gifts." So all the depictions of the "three wise men," giving gifts to the baby Jesus are incorrect. By the time they found Jesus, he was about two years old. How do we know that? Verse 16 says "Then Herod, seeing that he had been outwitted by the "wise men" fell into a great rage, and he sent out and had all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts done away with, from two years of age and under according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the "wise men." Read it for yourself. I choose to believe what the Bible says and not what I have heard all my life about the birth of Jesus from those who do not believe what the Bible says. I have come to learn that Christmas is based on PAGAN holidays and the commercialization and drunken parties of Christmas PROVES even more that Jesus would not be happy to know how his supposed birthday is celebrated every year. Revelation 18:11 explains why the "traveling merchants of the earth are weeping and mourning over the" destruction of false religion. It says that "traveling merchants ... became rich from her and will weep and mourn saying, 'too bad, too bad' "because there is no one to buy their full stock anymore." While there is nothing wrong with SOME traditions, a person needs to think about the traditions of birthdays and Christmas and other Pagan holidays. So my primary scripture for today is this: Mark 7:13 Could it be true that a person could "make the word of God invalid by your tradition."