Winter break is a time for many to get in the holiday spirit and for some to celebrate Christmas. Some students who do not celebrate the holiday shared their experiences –

Junior Burton Anderson has a unique reason for not participating in the widely promoted holiday, being that he is a Jehovah’s witness.

Jehovah’s witnesses are a Christian-based religious group that believe in the bible and God as the “almighty creator.” They do not participate in most festivities, including birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, or Easter among others due to the fact that they believe these celebrations are correlated with imprecise religious beliefs.

Anderson shared his thoughts on the celebration of Christmas by describing it as a pointless event.

“I feel like if you wanted to celebrate one day you could celebrate every day,” Anderson said.

Being part of a Jehovah’s witness family all his life, Anderson has become used to the separation that is caused from not celebrating Christmas.

There are, of course, certain aspects that Anderson may sometimes feel he’s missing out on. The most prevalent of these aspects includes Christmas caroling with the Sandpoint High School chamber choir.

“It’s kind of weird in choir not singing with them when they’re singing the Christmas songs, Anderson said. “I want to sing them but I can’t.”

Although Anderson cannot celebrate winter break in the traditional sense, this doesn’t stop him from having an enjoyable few weeks away from school. Anderson spends his winter break relaxing, de-stressing, and spending time with his close friends as often as possible.

Senior Sam Jackson takes an alternative approach to celebrating the holiday season. Jackson’s family, instead, participates in the celebration of Hanukkah. Jackson’s family, though they are Christian, rejected Christmas early in Jackson’s childhood.

They viewed the holiday as an inadequate reflection of their religion, in that it wasn’t biblical, and alternatively favored Hanukkah as the more appropriate religious celebration to complement their beliefs.

As a child, Jackson believed there was much to miss out on, explaining that he initially felt that not having a traditional Christmas morning and Christmas decorations meant that they’re holiday was less enjoyable than others.

“But as I grew older I realized that the holidays are about much more than that,” Jackson said. “Once I understood that what we did brought our family together, I didn’t think it was that different.”

Junior Ratu Arweys is a foreign exchange student this year from Indonesia, and will be celebrating Christmas for the first time with her host family in Sandpoint.

Back in Indonesia, Arweys’s family does not celebrate Christmas, although they do participate in the Christmas shopping sales at the end of the year.

Arweys described Christmas in Indonesia as more religious-based, where they focus primarily on church activities as opposed to American traditions of putting up a Christmas tree and exchanging gifts.

Arweys doesn’t have a winter break in Indonesia she would typically be starting to prepare for her final exams this time of year. Indonesia additionally doesn’t have any snow due to its close proximity to the equator.

Arweys shared her thoughts on the upcoming winter break, with this being the first year she has a chance to have time off and celebrate Christmas.

“ I haven’t set my expectations yet but I feel like it’d be a great time to reflect my experiences and maybe immerse myself in Idahoan culture,” Arweys said. “I’m definitely looking forward to it.”