Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994                   TAG: 9412270102
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

NO, THE GRINCH DIDN'T STEAL IT, AND IT'S NOT EVEN MISSED

\ Christmas is everywhere outside Stan and Janet Glasofer's house on Kenwick Trail. Next door and across the street, their neighbors' ranch homes in Roanoke County are strung with lights: colored lights, white lights, blinking lights - Christmas lights.

Wreaths and red bows decorate nearly every door and mailbox on their winding street; Penn Forest Christian Church, which featured a live Nativity scene this holiday season, is around the corner.

But all that stops at the Glasofers' front door.

"You get away from it here," said Janet Glasofer. "You crossed over the magic line when you walked in that door. I can't control what goes on out there, and I don't want to, but when you cross my front door, you come into a Jewish home."

A home without Christmas. Try to picture it. Push the rewind button on this morning's hoopla and festivities. Think, for a moment, about the bliss of sleeping in. Imagine your children padding into the living room to watch cartoons instead of jumping on your bed demanding you get up to see what Santa brought. Pretend you won't have to wrestle with mounds of crumpled wrapping paper and already forgotten bows.

Quickly, though, these thoughts lead to others. No trimmed tree. No bulging stockings and brightly wrapped presents. No Santa Claus.

It's almost unimaginable, unless you are one of many families who don't celebrate Christmas. A Jewish family. A Baha'i family. Jehovah's Witnesses. Muslims. Hindus. To people of these faiths and cultures, Dec. 25 is an ordinary day. Not a lonely day and not an empty day, they say. Just another day.

"I think there is this idea that we have a void in our lives because there is no Christmas, but that's not true," Janet Glasofer said. "There is no void. There is no emptiness. We have a lot of holidays to celebrate throughout the year."

There is a difference, though. The celebrations of other religions don't spill over into the public realm with the fervor of Christmas, which all but conquers the malls, the classrooms and the airwaves year after year. Especially for children, it's hard to ignore.

"Something can't be around you so much and not affect you, even if you aren't a part of it," said the Glasofers' son, Joseph, a sophomore at Cave Spring High School. "It can get to you. Sometimes you just want to stay away from the restaurants and the malls and the music that plays all the time."

Joseph's 6-year-old sister, Laura, attended a Jewish school in Houston before the family moved to Roanoke in June. Now she goes to Penn Forest Elementary School, where this year she shared her family's Hanukkah traditions with her Christian classmates.

"Laura's kind of realizing for the first time that there are fewer people out there who celebrate Hanukkah," Joseph said.

For James Williams and his Baha'i family, having children meant making some accommodations. Baha'is don't formally celebrate Christmas. They believe Jesus Christ was one of several manifestations of God, but that the Prophet for all people, Bah'u'llah, already returned.

Although there is no formal acknowledgment of Christmas, "Baha'is are still free to participate in Christmas activities with their non-Baha'i family and friends," Williams said. "Our focus is on unity. Unity of family, unity of society. The Baha'i faith allows individuals a certain amount of conscientious freedom."

Two of the Williamses' three children celebrated Christmas as youngsters, before the family became Baha'is.

"We knew our children could not understand certain things, living in this very commercialized society. This is the time for gift-giving, so when it was appropriate for their ages, we would give them gifts," Williams said. "We did not want them to view religion as a negative thing, as a punishment. But now they are old enough to know who they are, and we don't exchange gifts as a family anymore."

Those who don't celebrate Christmas because of its religious significance sometimes look to aspects of the season that are universal to all cultures. Warmth. Cheer and goodwill. The spirit of giving.

"I try to remember that besides being a religious holiday, people in America and all over the world view Christmas as a time for people to get together and get into the holiday spirit. I think that's a good thing," Joseph Glasofer said.

His father, Stan, nodded. "There's a giving feeling in the air. I don't associate that with any particular holiday," he said. "And when people wish me a 'Merry Christmas,' I usually don't stop to point out that I'm Jewish. I say 'Happy Holidays' back. I appreciate the sentiment."

The greetings are one of the hurdles the Andersons, a family of Jehovah's Witnesses, face each year. Though Jehovah's Witnesses believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God, they have not celebrated Christmas since 1926, when they realized it is not discussed in the Scriptures and decided the customs are rooted in paganism. For them, there is no "Season's Greetings" equivalent to "Merry Christmas."

"That's probably the most difficult thing for me, because when someone greets you saying 'Merry Christmas' it's almost reflective to say, `You, too,''' Scott Anderson said.

Scott and Edie Anderson were not always Jehovah's Witnesses. They grew up in Presbyterian and Catholic families. They know what it means to celebrate Christmas and understand fully why they gave it up.

"That understanding is important. It's a lot easier to give something up if you understand why," Scott said.

The Andersons' teen-age daughters, Kelly and Lindsay, have no longing for Christmas. They've never had Christmas.

"It's not that hard. I'm used to it, because I've never celebrated it," explained Lindsay, 13, an eighth-grader at Cave Spring Junior High School.

When the girls were younger, Edie asked their teachers to send home holiday-related exercises and worksheets in advance. She would tailor them to seasonal themes - snowmen and winter scenes - so her children could participate in lessons the next day.

"Our kids learned early on that there are a lot of different people in the world," Edie said. "We taught them to respect differences, and I made sure they didn't spoil Christmas for others. I told them it's not nice to tell other children that there is no Santa Claus."

The Andersons' differences almost always bring questions. "People often ask 'What about your poor children?''' Edie said, as she told a story about a co-worker who jumped in once when that question was asked.

"Don't ever pity Edie's children," her colleague said. "They are well cared for. They are loved, and they certainly get plenty of presents. They are just spread throughout the year."

By the time Dec. 25 rolls around, the pressure is almost off.

"Christmas Day is pretty much a relief," Edie said, "because at that point it's almost over. It's the months before then that are the hardest."

Because Dec. 25 falls on a Sunday this year, the Andersons will spend the afternoon as they do most Sundays - at the Kingdom Hall. They may take advantage of the day off Monday, though, and invite friends over Sunday evening to socialize or go to a movie.

"It's a great day to go to the movies," Scott said. "There's no one there."