I am talking about the latter.
Is it just a coincidence that JBR is not just murdered but brutally murdered on Christmas day (or very close to it).
To me, if the day is significant then it implies a ritualistic component to the murder, and I have always gotten that sense about it. Whoever killed JBR, it is not coincidence of 'when' they did it. This does not necessarily mean her murder was planned in advance. It could mean that "something else" was planned in advance and that something else got out of control, resulting in the death of JBR. In either case, when it took place would be significant.
Another way of looking at it is this: If the R's were going to do something like this to their daughter, Christmas day, after they had been to a party and the night before they were supposed to go on a long vacation in the morning would probably be one of the least likely times for them to do it unless there was some significance to the day to them, such that it had to be done on that day, around that time.
I think the fact she was killed so near (or on) Christmas Day is due to the fact that holidays are an emotionally charged, stressful time for most families, even when not faced with the specific dysfunctional issues displayed by the Ramsey’s. Let us specifically think of what we know about PR and that particular time:
1) Her obsession with things being or appearing "perfect" (her dress & demeanour, her kids, her lifestyle, etc..
2) Her fascination with Christmas in general (i.e. the fact she had the house open & overly decorated on a holiday tour circuit).
3) The emotions and aftermath of having to deal with her battle with cancer & mortality.
4) The realisation that something was extremely wrong in her family dynamic (e.g. JB being abused by someone).
5) Overwhelmed by preparation for yet more family travel.
6) The typical stress that comes with holiday preparations.
So many factors, and it goes without saying that there might have been other stressors in play AND it didn't have to be Patsy who "snapped" during that emotionally charged, high pressure time of the year. I just used her as she was is the most obvious example of a “Ramsey on edge”. JR and BR would have been reacting to those factors as well, on varying levels, plus dealing with their own issues of which we may or may not be aware. Any of the three Rs in the home that fateful night could have been the initial perpetrator of the murder and/or of the prior sexual abuse. Furthermore, at least two of them are/were actively involved in staging, cover-up and the deliberate obfuscation of the facts in this crime—but no evidence points to a ritualistic (as either a religious or psychologically comforting/compelled) element.
Trying to pin this up to ritualistic crime is, IMO, fanciful speculation. It wasn't a "Satanic intruder" nor a family member with psychologically-compelled ritualistic habits, it wasn't a random paedophile gang, it wasn't disgruntled former Access Graphics employees trying to pin a crime on such an "upstanding Christian family" (sarcasm intended), it wasn’t a mad, scheming Ramsey awaiting just that date & time to do in JBR for some esoteric reason. Nope-- all available evidence points to a sick, out of control family situation that finally exploded, and a cover-up by Ramsey’s who wanted signs to point at the bogeyman of an outsider/outsiders, but who weren't smart enough or sophisticated enough to make up a plausible scenario.
(Then again, the Ramsey family got away with their crime, but I chalk that up to dumb luck. societal bias and sloppy DA office machinations rather than any sort of masterful criminal manipulations. I'm sure they were every bit as stunned as most of us are they managed to pull it off.)
To summarise, I think things likely just reached a breaking point sometime late Christmas Day night. No premeditation, no non-Ramsey outsiders, no pre-designed plots. Frankly, JBRs murder is horrific and pathetic enough without trying to cobble together a ritualistic angle to the crime.