After that time, close to Christmas, in church (5)
I believe the answer is:
since
'after that time' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'close to christmas in church' is the wordplay.
'close to' says to take the final letters (the close/ending of).
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
The last letter of 'christmas' is 's'.
's'+'in'+'ce'='SINCE'
(Other definitions for since that I've seen before include "in the past" , "From that time one" , "Seeing that" , "Because; ago" .)