Your Adventist coworker just said no to the office Christmas party. Or maybe your neighbor who goes to the Adventist church doesn’t have lights up. You’re scratching your head, wondering if they even do Christmas.
Do Seventh day Adventists celebrate Christmas? Most do, yeah. But not all. And there’s no church rule about it either way.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church leaves it up to each person. No official policy says you have to celebrate. No statement bans it. Your Bible study, your conscience, your choice.
Walk into ten Adventist homes in December, and you’ll see ten different approaches. Some have full-on Christmas trees with presents underneath. Others keep things simple. A few skip it completely.
The Ones Who Celebrate
Plenty of Adventist families go all in. Trees. Wreaths. Lights on the house. Presents under the tree. Kids are getting excited about Santa. Pretty much what you’d see in any Christian home.
They believe that Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth. They know that He most likely wasn’t born on December 25th. Nobody actually knows the date. But that’s not the point. The Christian world does celebrate it now, so with them—why not?
It turns out that Ellen White, one of the church’s founders in the 1800s, actually advocated for its members to celebrate Christmas. She wrote that churches should have trees with gifts for those in need. Use the season to teach kids about giving, not just receiving presents.
December is a month in which most Adventist churches do something special. Music concerts. Nativity plays. Food drives. Toy collections. Sermons about Jesus’s birth. It’s an opportunity to reach people who never come to church.
Families celebrate like everyone else. Decorating. Baking cookies. Watching movies. Opening gifts on Christmas morning. All that stuff.
The one difference? No church service on December 25th unless it’s a Saturday. Adventists worship on Saturday, the Sabbath. So Christmas Day is just a regular day off work.
The Ones Who Don’t
But do Seventh day Adventists celebrate Christmas universally? Nope.
Some Adventists skip the whole thing. Their reasons make sense if you understand where they’re coming from.
December 25th was originally a Roman sun god festival. Early Christians might’ve picked that date to make converting pagans easier. That bugs some people who want their worship strictly biblical.
There’s nothing in the Bible about celebrating Jesus’s birth. No command. No instruction. The disciples didn’t do it. Early Christians didn’t mark the date. So some Adventists figure if Scripture doesn’t mention it, why bother?
Then there’s the materialism problem. Christmas has gotten insane. Kids expect expensive toys. Adults go into debt. Black Friday stampedes. Cyber Monday madness. The whole consumer circus.
Some families look at that mess and opt out. They don’t want their kids thinking Christmas means gimme, gimme, gimme. They’re worried the spiritual part drowns in wrapping paper and credit card bills.
These families might talk about Jesus’s birth throughout the year. They’ll teach the nativity story. But no tree, no presents, no production.
And the church doesn’t judge them for it.
What the Church Actually Says
Pastor Ted Wilson runs the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He’s addressed this directly. The church has no official position on Christmas. It’s personal choice territory.
He warned against letting Christmas divide people. Don’t criticise someone who celebrates differently. Don’t make members feel bad for their choices. That creates a stupid conflict nobody needs.
The Biblical Research Institute put it plainly: “Adventists are not, nor should we be, against Christmas. Why would we be against a period of time when Christians remember the birth of our Savior?”
But they also said since Christmas isn’t in Scripture, it’s not required. The only holy day Adventists officially recognize is the Saturday Sabbath. Everything else is optional.
Romans 14:5 backs this up. One person thinks one day is special. Another thinks every day is the same. Each should follow their own conviction.
That’s how Adventists roll. Personal conviction beats church rules.
How It Looks Different
Even Adventists who love Christmas do things a bit differently.
No midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. That’s Catholic tradition, not Adventist style. If Christmas lands on Saturday, churches will have regular Sabbath service with maybe some nativity themes. Otherwise, December 25th isn’t a church day.
The celebrations focus more on service than stuff. Churches organise community help. Members look for struggling families to assist. Gifts often focus on needs over wants.
Food’s different too. Adventists avoid certain meats or eat vegetarian. So no Christmas ham. You’ll find plant-based dishes instead. Lots of families make veggie versions of holiday classics.
Gift exchanges do occur but are usually small. Classic strategy: everyone receives something they need, something they want, something to wear and something to read. Keeps things reasonable.
Some families forgo any Santa Claus-based images at all. They’re simply not into confusing kids about who matters most at Christmastime. Stick to the nativity scenes, angels and stars. Biblical stuff.
What This Means for You
So do Seventh day Adventists celebrate Christmas? Yeah, most do. But how they celebrate varies wildly.
Some go big with trees and lights and parties. Others keep it quiet with just family time and a nice meal. A few skip it entirely. All three are fine within the church.
The connecting thread? Whatever they choose, they try to keep Christ central. Whether that’s organising toy drives, teaching kids about Jesus, or just avoiding the commercial craziness.
Got Adventist friends or family? Don’t assume they celebrate as you do. Just ask. Some will happily hit your Christmas party. Others will pass. Neither means they’re judging you.
If your Adventist neighbor’s house stays dark while everyone else lights up? Maybe they’re celebrating quietly inside. Maybe they’re not celebrating at all. Either way, it’s their call based on their understanding of the Bible.
That’s the Adventist approach. Personal freedom within biblical guidelines. Christmas included.
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