Anthony Horowitz

'' Christmmas, of course, has very little to do with Christianity. […] There were festivals at the end of December long before Christianity appeared; the Roman 'Saturnalia' and the Persian 'Birth of the Sun', for example. In the north it is a festival of the dark spirits, for it is at Christmas that the dead return from their graves."
This was all news to David. But he had to admit that living in London and being surrounded by tinsel, department-store Santas, last-minute shopping, mince pies, puddings and too many old films on TV, Christmas had ever had much to do with Christianity there either.