With the holidays quickly approaching, more and more students are feeling excited for the holiday season. The break means time off from school, spending time with family, and many times, it means good food. However, along with the positivity of the holiday season comes a little bit of controversy: Should people call the break Winter Break or Christmas Break?

At the Crossed Sabres, we think that the more appropriate term would be Winter Break. Christmas is not the only religious holiday that occurs over the 10-day vacation. For example, Hanukkah falls during that time off of school this year, taking place from December 24 to January 1. Although the holiday of Christmas has become highly commercialized over the years, to the effect of not always appearing to be a religious holiday, the word “Christmas” can still conjure a very Christian-centric idea in people’s minds of the holiday season. This can lead people to forget that there are other holidays during that time period.

However, the rationale behind calling it Christmas Break is understandable. During this festive time of year, advertisements cover media, promoting stores and sales in the hopes of convincing you to do your holiday shopping with them. Yuletide movies flood the airwaves, showing happy images of Santa Claus and his reindeer, and holiday music pervades the radio stations. This can make the holidays hard to ignore, and can help promote the idea that Christmas is the only or the most important holiday over the December break period. For some people, Christmas and December have become almost synonymous.

Officially, the APS calendar calls it Winter Break. In the halls of Arlington schools, however, it is not uncommon to hear the break being called Christmas Break. Whatever the reason, we encourage you to think about it. At the end of the day, the decision of whether or not to call it Christmas break is a personal one. On one hand, many people use the term “Christmas Break”to describe the winter holidays, and they may have grown up saying that. On the other hand, religious holidays other than Christmas take place over the break, so people may want to acknowledge and respect that by calling it Winter Break. The choice is yours.