Historically ... Christmas about 150 to 200 years ago was more like Halloween than modern day Christmas

Which is the main reason why Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' features ghosts and spirits. It was a time to tell dark stories and legends to scare people because the Winter Solstice was known in pagan times as the 'darkest time of the year' ... the winter solstice is the longest ~~day~~ night of the year and the belief was that on that day was when the forces of darkness had reached their peak and that the light was now returning.

Early Christians co opted the same period to correspond with the birth of Christ partly because of this same or similar messaging.

If you look up modern historians analysis of what time of year Christ might have been born, it turns out it was probably in the spring time rather than during the winter solstice.

EDIT: I meant longest night not longest day