I've heard people say that Christmas is celebrated in December because Christians hijacked a pagan celebration of the winter solstice. Is this true and if so to what extent?
Hello, I broadly answered your question here.
The TL:DR of that is that Christmas, or Christ's Mass, as originally celebrated is very much a Christian festival but one in the global tradition of winter religious festivals. Over time, it has aggregated a variety of traditions and cultural fixtures from Pagan and other Christian festivals, either as a means of aiding conversion or as response to the Reformation or other socio-economic and political factors.