what year christmas first celebrated

The first recorded celebration of Christmas can be traced back to the early Roman Empire, during the reign of Emperor Aurelian in the 3rd century AD. However, the date of December 25th was not officially adopted as the date of Christmas until the 4th century, when the Roman Catholic Church decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on that day. Before that, there were many different theories about the exact date of Christ's birth, including the winter solstice and early spring.