101 Questions - About Ellen White and Her Writings

Question 36: May we celebrate Christmas? (“Christmas”)

I have a simple question you might answer for me. I am a Seventh-day Adventist, and all of my life (seventy-six years), my family and Seventh-day Adventist friends have celebrated Christmas. I have many happy memories of this event as a child—memories I will always hold dear. 101Q 91.1

Recently I received an e-mail and the subject was Christmas. In brief, the message wasn’t in favor of Christmas. Somewhere in the back of my mind I recall something in the writings of Ellen G. White where she mentioned Christmas and the tree, etc.—not in a negative way, but as a time of turning our thoughts to Jesus and also as a time for families to be together. 101Q 91.2

Can you tell me if Ellen White does mention Christmas? 101Q 91.3

I will copy for you some of Mrs. White’s statements bearing on Christmas. [These quotations come from the Ellen G. White Estate paper, “A Group of Statements From the Pen of Ellen G. White Regarding Holiday Gifts and the Observance of Christmas.” The paper, which contains much more on Christmas, is accessible on the White Estate Web Digital Resource Center site. See also The Adventist Home, pp. 477-483.] 101Q 91.4

Christmas is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in their innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to Him gifts and offerings. Let everyone remember the claims of God. 101Q 91.5

His cause cannot go forward without your aid. Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord’s treasury. 101Q 91.6

. . . In every church let your smaller offerings be placed upon your Christmas tree. Let the precious emblem “evergreen” suggest the holy work of God and His beneficence to us; and the loving heart-work will be to save other souls who are in darkness. Let your works be in accordance with your faith (Review and Herald, December 9, 1884). 101Q 91.7

The holiday season is fast approaching with its interchange of gifts, and old and young are intently studying what they can bestow upon their friends as a token of affectionate remembrance. It is pleasant to receive a gift, however small, from those we love. It is an assurance that we are not forgotten, and seems to bind us to them a little closer. 101Q 92.1

Brethren and sisters, while you are devising gifts for one another, I would remind you of our heavenly Friend, lest you should be unmindful of His claims. Will He not be pleased if we show that we have not forgotten Him? Jesus, the Prince of Life, gave all to bring salvation within our reach. . . . He suffered even unto death, that He might give us eternal life. . . . 101Q 92.2

Shall not our heavenly Benefactor share in the tokens of our gratitude and love? Come, brethren and sisters, come with your children, even the babes in your arms, and bring your offerings to God according to your ability. . . . Let us, upon the coming Christmas and New Year’s festivals, not only make an offering to God of our means, but give ourselves unreservedly to Him, a living sacrifice. . . . 101Q 92.3

While urging upon all the duty of first bringing their offerings to God, I would not wholly condemn the practice of making Christmas and New Year’s gifts to our friends. It is right to bestow upon one another tokens of love and remembrance if we do not in this forget God, our best Friend. We should make our gifts such as will prove a real benefit to the receiver. I would recommend such books as will be an aid in understanding the Word of God, or that will increase our love for its precepts (Review and Herald, December 26, 1882). 101Q 92.4

See also the following question and answer. 101Q 92.5