I heard it said once that if there were no God man would've invented Him; we seem to have some sort of primal need for Him. Personally, I consider the deeper spiritual meaning of Christmas infinitely superior to anthropomorphized explanations for the solstices. But then, I consider much of pagan mythology a poorly preserved memory of prophecies given to people who loved God but whose descendants forgot much of the deeper meaning when they forgot Him. Essentially, I feel the Gnostics were wrong for the right reasons, and thus wholly wrong in every way that matters. We could always go back to the blood sacrifices you referenced earlier (if they weren't highly illegal, of course) but that doesn't really convey the same "lifting of spirits and the joy of time with family that brighten[s] the cold winter months".