I love the Christmas season. Christmas is everywhere you look, the malls, neighborhood streets, even the workplace. In America, Christmas fills every nook and cranny. It certainly does not appear to me that Christmas is in the midst of a “war” in fact, you couldn’t escape Christmas if you tried.
The phrase Merry Christmas has become a political lightning rod for the far right to get their base pissed off and thinking “liberals are out to get us” each time someone has the nerve to say “Happy Holidays.”
I say Merry Christmas sometimes but at times, I say, Happy Holidays and sometimes……Have a great holiday! It is not out of political correctness but out of a wish to be inclusive to all of the many “reasons for the season.” I often do not know, especially when I am talking to a customer on the phone, if they celebrate Christmas in the Christian sense, or celebrate the season for other reasons. If they say Merry Christmas, I will repeat it back to them. Often, a customer (obviously a Christmas Warrior) will say “thank you for saying Merry Christmas” in a smug tone (like they were hoping to catch me in the act of saying the wrong greeting.) But why do they feel the need to be so smug or angry? They certainly did NOT feel bad when their Christian cohorts forced the schools to have “Fall Festivals” instead of Halloween parties. What about MY favorite holiday?
Why not be somewhat inclusive and try NOT to offend others because of a word or phrase? The holidays are actually celebrated for different reasons by different people…….pagans celebrate the solstice (and the 25th was originally a pagan holiday), some, like myself, and celebrate a more secular Christmas with Santa and gifts. Some celebrate Hanukah…..some Kwanza. Then you have the whole two holidays in one with New Year’s. Saying Merry Christmas it just a phrase that has now become a way to declare your Christian victimhood. It is a hammer to bring down on others who simply want to wish you well.
I often do not want to say “Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”……it is too damn long. Happy Holidays covers them both AND doesn’t offend anyone (except for people who believe there is a “war on Christmas.”) The question is, are the holidays about critiquing each greeting’s potential political and religious intent?
Saying Happy Holidays is not saying “screw your religious holiday and baby Jesus” It is wishing you a great holiday season in whatever way you choose to celebrate it. It is easier (and lazier) to cover more ground and all the holidays at once.
I for one am tired of people trying to force me to wish someone a greeting THEIR way. Perhaps all of the people who think there is a “war” should stop “fighting”. Just let everyone greet people the way they want and accept the fact that not everyone celebrates the way you do. Not saying Merry Christmas doesn’t imply we don’t want you to have one.
So, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Have a Great Hanukah, Merry Solstice, Happy New Year, Season’s Greetings, and Happy Holidays!
