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Does it matter what we say this Holiday Season?
09 Dec 2006 Brian Purkiss
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Well… Let me put in my two cents.
It annoys me when people get mad at me for saying “Happy Holidays” during the holidays. Like, if it’s two days after Thanksgiving and I say happy holidays I’m not dissing Christmas, I’m just wishing a person a joyful season.
When a person says “Merry Christmas” they are being specific. They’re saying happy December 25th. Happy Holidays includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc. People need to not freak out when they get a happy holidays card.
It does annoy me, however, when stores refuse to sell things that say “Merry Christmas”. I don’t mind if they have “Happy Holidays” stuff as long as they also include Merry Christmas.
To boil down what I’m trying (and failing - I’m really tired) to get across - I don’t care what a person says as long as their intent is good. If a person says “Happy Holidays” but they aren’t purposefully excluding Christmas than I have no problem. In the same way, if a person only ever says “Merry Christmas” and gets mad at me for saying “Happy Holidays” then I get angered.
Just my opinion.
There is nothing wrong with saying “Happy Holidays” as Freshman said above. But I believe saying Merry Christmas is just a little way of pushing the Christ part of it.
After Thanksgiving is good and over with, the natural connotation to “Happy Holidays” is to include Christmas with the many other minor holidays near it. To which there are several. Most everyone these days is trying to accomodate everyone, no matter how small the group. It’s fairly ridiculous. I wouldn’t mind, but I know for a fact that if Christmas was a minor holiday and everyone was celebrating Kawanza - there would be absolutely no “Happy Holidays”. We’d still be saying “Happy Kawanza”.
A good old piece of advice is - if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Merry Christmas still works. And it’s the holiday that 99% of those people out there are shopping for.
Does it “matter”? No, not really. People get too offended over… everything. People should not get all postal on Nativity scenes on public property, and we as Christians should not get offended at Happy Holiday cards and signs.
Jesus is the reason for the season. Focus on loving your brother this season instead of getting wrapped around the axle because Target doesn’t say Merry Christmas.
I totally agree with Andrew. The reason this time of year is such a big “holiday season” is because of CHRISTmas. Everyone decorates for Christmas, shops for Christmas, wait for Christmas, etc. Call them CHRISTmas trees - not Holiday Trees. The trees are used for the Holiday CHRISTmas, not Holiday. Call them what they are - don’t be chickens and tone down names because “someone might get offended.” Which is stupid. It’s a holiday, you don’t have to celebrate it. If you don’t like it, don’t celebrate it and shut up.
Hey Andrew, were you NewAthiest? If so, nice job playing Devil’s Advocate.
Yes I was. And thank you. During the aftermath and researching NewAthiesm a little bit more I could have done a bit of a more authentic job, but still. Thanks. =)
Nice. You did a good job!
I feel that all this debating about Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays is quite funny. There are secular people who are not actually dissecting the words - and they’re still saying Happy HOLY days - even in rebellion.
I will say whatever I feel God leads me to say, and bless His name by doing so. There is no reason for Christians to get all mad and avoid ‘Happy Holidays’ just because secularists are pushing it.
Yes it all is annoying to buy ‘Holiday trees’ and such, but let’s do right on our part and say it all in a way that honors God, which means having a right heart - whether or not we say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’!
I wrote a blog post on this by the way - http://elisabethartblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/1-happy-holidays-or-merry-christmas.html
Anyhow,nice thoughts everyone!