] Is Michaelmas Christmas? I've read 3 of her novels (working on a fourth) and I've always wondered that.

No, Michaelmas is the Feast of St. Michael on September 29. Michaelmas, 9/29; Christmas, 12/25; sometimes Candlemas, 2/2 (Groundhog's Day) sometimes Lady Day (Feast of the Annunciation), March 25;(there is one in the Spring but I forget what it is) were "Quarter Days." Most business was not conducted on a weekly basis, but on a quarterly basis. When Mr. Bingley takes possession of Netherfield, he does so beginning that quarter. The servants and rents would have been paid on a quarterly basis.