xmas/happy holidays/merry christmas rant

With cards I think it's a bit different.

If you KNOW someone celebrates something besides Christmas (or doesn't celebrate anything at all) then by all means take that into account.

That's very interesting. I knew there was a good reason I write merry Xmas.

I don't mind "happy holidays" either. If I use "happy holidays," I'm thinking Thanksgiving and Xmas or the other religious holidays around that time. I think we should say something like that all throughout the year, not just around December. It could mean happy Valentine's day, happy St. Patricks day, happy labor day, happy independence day and so on. We could be saying happy holidays frequently. Wouldn't that be better yet?

Well, i dont wish people merry christmas or happy holidays year round but i do make a point to tell anyone i talk to each day to "have a good day". . Always. I am sure i fOrget sometimes but its just natural to me to say it at the end of a conversation. Especially cashiers and stuff at the checkout. "thank you, have a good day". Sometimes they beat me to it though lol

Again though i am not actually offended by the way anyone says anything. I just found it funny to be so outraged but not enough to write the full word.... Especially when i know he doesnt know the thing snark posted lol and he is not a christian... So i dont know why it bothers him so lol

I don't know why either, people would be offended or out raged about anything like this. It's really beyond me. And no...I wouldn't wish someone a merry Christmas (there, I wrote it out) in July. But I might say, "happy 4th!" I always say, "top 'o the morning to you" around St. Patrick's Day or Happy St. Patrick's day. And I think it's nice to say, "have a good day." What do you think when people say, "Have a good one." That is so weird. I want to say, "Have a good one of what?" :lol-sign:

I've only read the first page of this thread, so hopefully it's still on track

I've never understood why anyone would get up in arms over being wished "Merry Christmas," "Happy Hanukkah," "Happy Kwanzaa," etc, etc. At least that person is being nice and WISHING YOU a happy holiday! Would you rather them grunt and not say anything?

I'm not religious, but I appreciate when someone says they'll keep me in their prayers. Why? Because they are thinking positive thoughts about me!

This is it exactly!

Motive and intent.

Of course people can say things with malice- but that goes for anything!

If I posted about my dog being sick and someone said "I'll keep her in my prayers" I would think it was a nice gesture.

If I mentioned how I wasn't religious and someone said "I'll pray for you," then yeah, I'd be offended.

I haven't ever had anyone say "Merry Christmas" before with rude intentions and although I'm sure there ARE people who are saying it to make you aware that Christmas is "THE ONLY" holiday, most say it just to be nice.

what i find odd is at a local elementary school here, the kids were not suppose to discuss anything about Christmas, but yet... they had the kids color a menora and star of david and some other things associated with hanauka (sp??) I'm not opposed to them doing the activities associated with haunaka, but why is okay to single out to oppose one religious belief in regards to a holiday over another? I found that to be very offensive.

When I was in third grade we made ornaments in class. The teacher had precut felt pieces, and we decorated them with puff paint. There were a bunch of choices for different holidays and if you didn't celebrate Christmas, there were little suction cup things to attach to them to put on your window.

I remember decorating a tree shaped one and a menorah

How weird... back in the Dark Ages when I went to elementary school, the neighborhood was 90% Jewish but no one cared if you had a christmas tree or a menorah. The school never pushed one holiday over the other.

Come to think of it... I don't remember having a Christmas or Hanukkah music program for the parents come December - we sang to classical music (did you know the Blue Danube waltz has words?)

It was a public school and most of the kids would be absent on the Jewish high holidays while the Catholic kids were shipped off in the afternoon to 'Sunday school' on Wednesdays. Can't imagine the uproar if a school did that today...

I knew a guy -- he was Jewish.

On the top of his Christmas tree there was a bagel.

I wouldn't have even thought Christmas even relates to Christianity anymore....

As Sarah said, you won't hear happy holidays in the UK.

We have one client who brings his dog to daycare who is Jewish. He threw a huge fit that we were having a client Christmas party and demanded that we change it to a holiday party. My boss changed it to holiday. He came in yesterday and said he wouldn't be able to make it to the holiday party this year so a few people joked about how we should change it back to Christmas.

I don't care what people call it. I say both Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. I was raised with it being Christmas, santa, pretty trees, presents and tons of houses lit up with neat lights outside. I rarely see houses lit up anymore.

I was really annoyed with what one of my friends on Facebook posted. She said that if you are celebrating Christmas then you are celebrating Christ's birth no matter what since that is the reason for the season. What if that is NOT what Christmas is to someone else? What if to them it truly just means time with family, presents, etc? I don't mind someone saying that they are celebrating Christ's birth, but to imply that that is the ONLY reason for the season and say that anyone who celebrates it as Christmas is celebrating Christs birth no matter what... Well that's just ignorant.

funny I almost wrote "wishing you a happy hoho" on Vic and Pepper's hat thread but I thought someone might have found it offensive so I wrote Happy Holidays. Not knowing, that someone would find that offensive.. so Here's to wishing you all a chuckle for the day.sheeesh. Life is too short.

I do t think anyone here would fimd that offensive... Depending what version of the word HO you are using lol

For those of you getting cards from me... I warn you they say Merry Christmas lol!! I give these cards to my Jewish friends. They know its meant in good faith (pardon the pun) If they give me a Hanukkah card I am thrilled. They are thinking of me

I unfriended some FB friends though this season. I can live with the simple keep Christ in Christmas posts. I have some deeply and loudly religious friends. Its the people who seem to want to claim everything as 'from Jesus'. For example one person posted that candy canes were to represent the 'J' from Jesus and that the colours were representative of his blood and skin from his sacrifice.... it went on and on and was totally BS. It ended keep Christ in Christmas.

I replied with the real origin of candy canes and unfriended them. Its not a contest.

Years ago, when I was pretty young, around 21 or so, I worked for some Jewish people in their home as a sort of nanny for a time. They plucked me out of the pool at the Jewish community center where I worked as a swim instructor and I taught their kids. They liked how I related to their kids etc, so offered me a better paid job.

We sort of socialized a little too. I brought them Xmas gifts, Xmas cookies that I had baked etc. They invited me to share in their Jewish celebrations/holidays and encouraged me to learn a little about and take part in their customs, which I loved doing and in which I found great satisfaction and enrichment. I think one year, they even had a Xmas tree. We were all about having fun, sharing and taking an interest in both kinds of holidays. No one ever heard of being offended by the stuff that goes on today. It's utterly ridiculous.

for the record... i really was tryign to be funny with my original post LOL I see I failed miserably.

I do remember the santa HO HO HO fiasco though when that all started a couple years ago lol. It's just getting crazy. People just want something to be offended about. I know some people are against the idea of santa all together. That's fine with me just please don't ruin it for my child because she does believe in santa and she loves santa and just becuase a few people are up in arms about "ho ho ho" or the idea of "lying to our kids"... keep that your little secret with your kids

actually... that reminds me of another thread and I'm going to start it right now