Merry Christmas

I beleive you are mistaken. People are not trying to take the “Christ” out of Christmas. Retailers are marketing to a couple of groups and holidays. There are people celebrating Hanukkah. Christmas and Hanukkah are both considered holy days thus the phrase “happy holidays” (Holy + days = holidays). There are others who are not interested in religion at all and celebrate Christmas as a time to give gifts to loved ones and have a festive day or just a day off of work. There are even others who celebrate a truly hateful, racist, and separatist un-holiday of kwanzaa. People generally throw new years in as well. Although not too commonly celebrated as a true “holy day” it does have its roots in religion as well.

Although I would agree that the U.S. mainly recognizes Christmas because of Christianity, the true origins of the celebrations might surprise you (see http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p235.html). And no one is trying “take the holiday away from” you. You can celebrate the holiday however you want. But so can others. Basically you are saying that you should be able to dictate the way others can greet you during this time of year. That would be like me saying that you should not tell me “hello” or “hi” during the summertime. And only greet me with the phrase “happy summer”. After all, summer is the reason for that season.

You can greet people however you want and let them greet you how they want. Your idea to reply “Merry Christmas” to their greeting of “Happy Holidays” is great if it makes you feel better.

I know many Christians want to and do boycott stores that use the term Happy Holidays. I think that is ridiculous. If one is going to do that, why don’t they just withdraw from society except for those who believe as they do. Maybe they should only associate with members of thier church. Many people see these boycotts as hateful blackmailers. This is not a good way to get others to join your cause.

I could go on for a long time but I have other things to do. If you don’t understand any of this, ask your favorite uncle and he should be able to explain it to you.

“Happy Holidays”,

Ron