Yep. We're ticked off here. When someone says "Happy Holidays", I respond w/ "Merry Christmas". When we saw that Lowes was selling "Family Trees" instead of "Christmas Trees", we wrote the company, (along w/ thousands of other people). They changed their ads and signage in their stores eventually. How stupid!

Blessings...and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Haley :)

I've come to accept it. Not everyone celebrates Christmas.

Wow, I never heard the one about certain color lights. I can see the "Happy Holidays" from businesses though. It only expands their good wishes to all who celebrate different holidays this time of year. It also prevents them from alienating themselves from potential sales by not recognizing all of their customers. And a salesperson has no way of knowing if s/he's looking at a person who is celebrating Christmas or Hannukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, Christmas or Ramadan, and I don't know if there are any others. I didn't want to take the chance when I worked with the public, so I said "Happy Holidays." It just seems to various religious groups complained or requested their rights be recognized too, or at least not violated. I don't see anything wrong with that. My Christmas cards say "Merry Christmas," but I wouldn't send to anyone I'm not sure about since I can't expect everyone celebrates Christmas.

It bugs me, too. Merry Christmas is the traditional greeting that's been around for many, many years. If it isn't your own "greeting", use your own but let others express their's too.

What color lights are deemed non acceptable these days? And did you hear that someone in Australia started a rant that suggested Santa shouldn't say HO HO HO because children might see it as a derogatory comment toward women? He is encouraged to say HA HA HA....
talk about overkill.
Suzan J

Nobody says *you* can't say Merry Christmas!

I do understand the store policies about it, they just can't take the chance of alienating customers.

oops, I spelled Hanukkah wrong
and meant to say "It just seems to me various . . ."

I have been noticing lately that people are reverting back to Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. Store ads are promoting Christmas sales this year instead of Holiday sales. People have had enough of being PC they want Christmas back.

One in 4 people that live in my community are immigrants and many are not Christian but they still put up lights, some have trees and most say Merry Christmas if you meet them in a store or on the street or in their homes. I have never met one person who is offended and I have never been told to wish a person "Happy Holidays"

I am also finding Christmas is becoming less of a religious holiday to many, myself included which may make others more comfortable. I have Jewish friends who put up a tree and decorate it. Decorating a tree, putting up lights and buying presents doesn't have to have anything to do with religion. Working with new immigrants in Windsor over the years I saw how excited many of them were to celebrate our "Christmas" holiday even though they were not Christians.

Canada Post has religious stamps. This year the Christmas stamp is a pretty nativity scene. Maybe we in Canada are less PC than you in the US are.

Anne

We own a business, and I say "Merry Christmas" to everyohe. If someone is offended by it, too bad.
Merry Christmas!
Tammy

i have always said happy holidays, growing up in chicago with a huge variety of cultures you never know if someone does kwanza, christmas or hanukkah. when i 'hear' stuff like don't say 'merry christmas' i don't really internalize it, i'm also not overly sensitive. i don't really see much effort to suppress christmas thou LOL and really govt has absolutely no business doing christmas stuff, generic holiday o.k. but not specific holiday. stores obviously don't want other holiday celebrators to feel excluded. and why should christmas celebrators feel slighted if we are only including more holidays? certainly the retailers need all the shoppers they can get and really that is what christmas has become anyways, all about the shopping and spending. ~ liz

Nope, not upset at all.

YOU can write whatever you want on your Christmas cards, who you are probably sending to people to celebrate Christmas. Nobody is taking away your right as an individual to say or write "Merry Christmas" as much as you want.

Not everybody celebrates Christmas. Some people celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Soltice, or nothing at all. Businesses and government want to acknowledge EVERYBODY and not just YOU and what you believe, which is why they ask their employess to say Happy Holidays.

I really don't understand the hoopla about all of this. Say whatever you want. Businesses are allowed to ask their employees to behave or respond in a certain way, they do about all sorts of other things too. I don't really get why people feel the need to have THEIR holiday acknowledged but don't care if everyone else's is ignored.

Ditto what Jenn said.
I'm not upset at all. I usually say Merry Christmas, and haven't been arrested, rebuked or fired yet.
If I know someone doesn't celebrate Christmas, I say "Happy Holidays" or "Happy Hannukah" or another suitable wish if I know that they celbrate another holiday at this time of the year.

I respect other's religions, and even lack thereof.

Take Jennmonkey's post and put my name on it too!

Oh my stars, Jennmonkey.
No one could say it better!

You can celebrate Christmas any way you like, decorate any way you like in, and outside, your home. It's private property. Those rules apply to public spaces.

I'll be putting up the Nativity lawn display on Saturday, weather permitting.

There is one reason that I celebrate on December 25th every year and that reason is CHRISTmas!! I say "Merry Christmas" to everyone. If somebody doesn't like it too bad. I was raised to know and understand what this month means.

I think there was something in the news recently about some city saying only white lights could be used on (downtown?) buildings because green and red were Christmas colors and could be offensive to some. Hearing or reading things like get so twisted around. Nobody can tell you what color lights to put on your property.

Or no one can tell you you can't send Merry Christmas cards to any one. Or say Merry Christmas any time you want to.

I think the problem now is because in times past there were very few of "Other than Christians, or even if they weren't, it was assumed they were" here in this country. It isn't like that now. Even in my little town, a son of an old Presbyterian family is a Russian Orthodox Bishop and has a church and congregation a few miles down the road. When I was in grade school there were Chinese, Jews, Italians, Greeks, and we all got along fine. I remember one of my classmates calling me a Gentile, and I didn't even know what that was. I had my first ravioli at a classmate's birthday party. Didn't know what that was, either. I don't even remember what we did at school about Christmas!

Like the fellow said, "Can't we just all get along?"

Celebrate the way you want to. Just remember everybody doesn't do it that way!

Sue

What is upsetting is the regulation of terms and phrases- the excluding of someone's religious belief for the purpose of *not offending*. Stripping down a holiday so that it doesn't even have an identity. Businesses and corporations enforcing their employees to be PC, which is backed by organizations like the ACLU. People SHOULD be free to display or say whatever they like and it's getting disgusting that they can't. Generalizing a holiday isn't what's bad, it's the LEGALISM that IS. Terms like "Happy Holidays" doesn't necessarily upset me, it's what's behind it that does.

Blessings,
Haley

I do remember what my school did. One day the teacher announced that every kid was suppose to stand up and list all the gifts they got "from St. Nick". Everyone stood up one at a time and reveled in their good fortune. When it got halfway around the room the girl who I shared a desk with stood up and boldly announced that she was Jewish and they did not believe in St Nick and do not celebrate. It was my turn next. I stood up and stammered and did not know what to say. Until then I had never even heard of St Nick. My family did not celebrate St Nick's Day and I was not Jewish either. I just stood there in anguish and mummbled that I didn't get any presents at all. Everyone burst out laughing at me. The whole rest of my day was ruined and I was taunted during recess about it. Why should a kid have to go through that?? Its just cruel and completely unessesary.

Religous stuff should be kept out of public schools and government building. Everyone is still free to celebrate anything they like in their own homes and businesses they own. Some businesses choose not to alienate demographic segments of our society and keep things neutral, and some choose to put on a big showy display. Employees should not be allowed to proselytize at work, nor should they be forced to either.

Jennmonkey said it best.

"People SHOULD be free to display or say whatever they like and it's getting disgusting that they can't."

Haley, Do you really want these rights for EVERYBODY or just the people who believe the same as you? How would you feel if a Satanist was allowed to say what he/she wanted, to you while you are a customer at the business where he/she works? That might be their religious beliefs, so if Christians should be allowed to say "merry christmas" and display a Nativity Scene at work, then shouldn't the Satanist have that same right as an American citizen? Or what about somebody who attends one of those Neo-Nazi churches, should they be able to display their Swastika at work, even though it might be offensive to some?

I realize these are the extreme examples, but in a country where we are all allowed to believe and worship what we want, it would be unfair and discriminatory to allow some employees to display or talk about their religion, but not others.

It's easier for businesses and government to just keep religion and politics out of the workplace and keep it in our private lives.

I WOULD be upset if these rights were taken away from us as individuals (as in decorating our own homes, or saying things we want in our private lives). But it makes sense for businesses to respect all of their customers and employees' religions or beliefs by saying the general "happy holidays".

Haley, I don't understand any of what you said. I understand the words all right, but I don't get your lack of sensitivity, understanding, or tolerance. Or, maybe I do understand every bit, come to think of it.

American Civil Liberties Union? You don't get what that means? Why would you expect them to ignore their own premise? Ignore the very rights they work to uphold? Wouldn't that make them non-compliant? Yes it would.

It has always angered me the way illegal aliens are, in some ways, treated better than tax-paying citizens. For example, it is the law they are to receive medical treatment despite not having insurance. But, if a tax payer doesn't have insurance, there is no law that says they have to receive treatment or that they are to receive treatments that insurance companies refuse to pay for. By the same token, why should a government office spend tax payer money to purchase and display religious icons? Not all the tax payers subscribe to that religion. Therefore, why are they expected to help pay for it and have to look at it, while their own religion is not represented.

What I'm saying is "there is, and has to be, common ground." What you are saying, in effect, is "forget the common the ground and do what I want? No one else, what they want, or how they feel matter one iota because to consider them in the least strips down what is most important to me."

I agree!
The only reason we have Christmas is because "Christ" was born. Why call it anything else? Christians and Non-Christians celebrate it. But the truth is it's a Christian holiday and should remain that way.
Hope I don't get into trouble here, just don't get it.
Judy

I always say Merry Christmas. I feel that we celebrate Christmas as Christ's Birthday and anyone who doesn't shouldn't celebrate it at all. Yes, I am a Christian and am not afraid to admit it. I don't celebrate Kwaanza, Hannuka, or any other holiday that does not mean anything to me. So, if you celebrate "xmas", don't get mad if I say MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS US!"

No one is trying to deny you the right to celebrate your holiday in the way you wish. It's your house, your religion, your decorations - go for it!

If a municipality, or a store chooses to use "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" - well, seriously, how does that hurt you?

If you choose to say "Merry Christmas" in return, no one is going to kick you out of a store. Businesses want to be inclusive - welcoming all customers, not just Christians.

Just as an aside - you all do know that the "Christmas tree" is a pagan symbol, don't you? And that Christmas was set close to the winter solstice to appease pagan religions?

Isn't "holiday" a derivative of "holy day"?

I have yet to see anything like that here. We all say Merry Christmas and there are signs and banners all over with Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings just as it's always been for as long as I can remember.

This is all symantics. No matter what the words, most people are wishing others peace, happiness, health, and prosperity. What's so wrong about that? Taking offense at the words is just missing the message of the wish. Just accept the wish gracefully.

It saddens me when someone does use one of those phrases to make a statement more like "THIS is the holiday is the one that matters most" or "This is everyone should be celebrating." That is blasphemous and a false wish. IMHO. ;o) If you aren't saying the words to send a wish of peace and love and happiness, you should just not say anything at all.

Christmas is not the only holiday - or holy day - celebrated this season. It wasn't even the first. Humanity has placed a lot of significance on this time of year throughout time. But they all put the same wish in our hearts, health, happiness, peace, and that there will be more good than bad in the world.

I agree that public buildings (and by that I mean funded by American tax dollars) should decorate for this multi-cultural season in an all-inclusive way. It would be cluttered and expensive to purchase icons for every religion, so it makes more sense to keep the neutral. Individuals and private buildings can still do what suits them, whatever their reasons, that's their right.

I have to wonder about those who just refuse to recognize that this IS a multi-cultural season. I also have to wonder about those who seem to think it's a competion of cultures. We do need to find the common ground. Respecting the celebrations of others does not disrespect your own.

as teresa says it depends on where you're raised...we lived in los angeles and always had a varity of friends, so mother, and later i, always purchased "holiday" cards...and this was from 1950's on...we just took it for granted...didn't have to be "told"...

Along this same line, and not that it bothers me, but has anyone who has AOL noticed the menorah (sp) in the top left hand corner of the welcome page?
Leslie

Les, they always do that whatever the holiday. Hanukkah has begun. It's a week-long holiday (more or less?) and no other holiday is right now.

Yes, after I hit submit, I figured they'd put up a wreath or something at Christmas. I think it's fine, and enjoy seeing all the symbols.
Leslie

Do not read this if you are easily offended:

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !!!!

I don't like "happy holidays" too much, either, but for the opposite reason.

I am not in the least offended by people celebrating Christmas qua Christmas. Not individuals, not religious groups, not private businesses. In fact, I would -- and do -- go to the mat to defend their right to do so.

What does indeed bother me is the expectation that *I* must celebrate it, too, either as an individual or as a citizen -- i.e., that the government should be recognizing and celebrating Christmas; that there is something weird or un-American about not celebrating Christmas. That's why I don't care much for "happy holidays" -- I know people feel they are just being inclusive, but to me it feels like pressure to join in so that everybody is celebrating together. Sorry -- religious or secular, creche or Santa -- it just isn't my holiday. Enjoy it, but please don't act like I"m the grinch for not celebrating it, too, no matter what you call it.

I assume that the people who complain that others are "stealing" Christmas celebrate and decorate for Christmas at their homes; why do they need decorations at the courthouse, too? What does that add for them? Does it really seem in the spirit of the holiday to make others feel like outsiders?

I do not like people saying "Happy Chanuka" to me at Christmas time -- even if Chanuka is long over -- as if Chanuka were just Hebrew for Christmas. I do not like people treating Chanuka as the most important Jewish holiday (it doesn't even come in fifth) just because it is conveniently close to Christmas.

Although I don't celebrate Christmas, I am honored and delighted to be invited by friends who do, just as they seem to enjoy being invited to a Shabbat dinner or Passover seder at our home. I love to hear the beautiful religious carols (give me Adeste Fideles over Frosty ANY day) and see the lovely decorations (especially if they are not energy inefficient; seems ironic to celebrate Christmas by increasing our dependence on problematic energy sources and adding to global warming! I am happy to see lots of pretty non-electric decorations in my neighbors' yards this year).

I am pleased to see that the majority of posters "get it" on this subject.

And I do sincerely wish the OP and others like her a very merry Christmas!

To my fellow Christians believers, below I have posted a link to a devotional I came across a couple of years ago that I really liked concerning this subject.
To those who are not interested just pass up this post, I am not posting it to trying make you see things my way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Holiday Wars (devotional)

Retailers tried to have the Christmas SHOPPING without actually acknowledging Christmas. That turned out not to be a good idea.

Does anyone know of stores that currently prohibit employees from saying "Merry Christmas"? I thought most of them had backtracked on that.

Gellchom, I don't recall when I learned the little I know about Hanukka and the reason for the different spellings. I found out at some point, at least enough not to commit the violation you stated. And, I never equated Hanukka with Christmas, but that's because, like I said, I did find out. I have to admit this little bit is about all I do know. I think education would solve your concerns so you don't feel disrespected as you seem to. I think I'm very fortunate to have known by living near or working with people of so many different ethnic and religious persuasions. If I had questions, which I often did, I asked permission to ask and then asked away so I could be mindful not to play the race card, which can be offensive in many ways. LOL I guess there's a religion card too, huh? I know many Jehovah's Witnesses, and they don't celebrate holidays at all. I think they, for the most part, are very resolute not to pay attention to all the extrensic influences of holidays. Stay strong, as I'm sure you will.

Cherbo, I don't mean you any offense because I know you mean well. I also don't want to turn Dorothy's thread into a religious discussion, so I will suffice it to say a Christian who knows the Bible will disagree with that devotion.

Yep it bugs me.....alot! Dh and I were just talking about all of this tonight. I remember when I was in school and even when our kids were in grade school, we had a Christmas tree in the class room, had Christmas parties, and even little gift exchanges with the other kids. Santa even visited every class room! Remember the Christmas programs your kids used to do? You won't find that happening anymore. Now they can't even sing Christmas songs....Ricky is learning them here and at home...that is sad to me. What memories I have of Christmas back then! Never was there a problem with how it was said or displayed.

Darn, I misspelled Hanukkah again.
Sorry.

On a different note, I've received 2 separate emails, one from a good friend, one from an acquaintance, both active Catholics, of a cartoon of mooning santas.

Yes, I was offended because of the blatant irreverence and lack of good taste. I'm not a prude or a zealot, but they just struck me on a wrong chord.

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a " Holiday ".
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Dream Tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday !

I did some shopping today and was wished "Merry Christmas" by some and I wished the same to them and others and they replied "Merry Christmas". It was nice; they almost sounded relieved.....

I think being PC can be over the top. Why are we offended by Merry Christmas, or a display of Hannukah candles? I taught at a school and had to quit saying Merry Christmas and singing Christmas songs. It was maddening because the school celebrated every stinking holiday.... Devali, Hannukah, Kwaanza- as to not leave anyone out, but the minute we started to celebrate CHRISTmas, it all went to pot because everyone else was "offended". Now how fair was that? We can celebrate and decorate for you but not for what we celebrate. We enjoy celebrating and learning about other cultures and even inviting them to share it with the children in the room. We never had a problem lighting the divali candles or making paper dreidles and learning the game.... we just could not do the same with Christmas because the rest of the children weren't Christians. What's wrong with this picture? Yes, we are slowly losing the true reason for the season.... how sad. Merry Christmas everyone.

Some of it does bother me, because we are not ALLOWED to say it in the stores, ect.

But for me to hear Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, has not bothered me in the past, because I always felt that when someone said Happy Holidays, they were combining Christmas and New Years. That is, until the last few years when it's become taboo.

Tami

Doesn't bother me either. I would be embarrassed if I said "Merry Christmas" to a Jewish person and they responded that they don't observe Christmas. I would rather err on safety's side and say "Happy Holidays" instead.