On ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Seasons Greetings’
I recently commented in a thread on google+ discussing the expression ‘Happy Holidays’.
I hate ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Seasons Greetings’.
Wish me Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Joyous Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, Acceptable Festivus, whatever your winter celebration is, I get the sentiment.
‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Seasons Greetings’ do not, in my opinion, ‘show acceptance and tolerance’. Those expressions hide how you celebrate this time of year and suck the soul out of the season.
Five years ago I went to my daughter’s school for their Christmas show. They had the kids sing a bunch of Christmas carols (including Silent Night and Away in a Manger) and one or two Hanukkah songs. Inclusive winter celebration, including some songs I grew up with and some I didn’t. They even had a sing-along portion where the audience could take part. Awesome.
Either that year or the next, someone complained about it being ‘religion in school’ and it has since ‘evolved’ to ‘celebrating the world’ or ‘something Santa-related’ (why this doesn’t trigger the anti-religious types escapes me). My son’s school had a ‘Hockey at the North Pole’ ‘winter show’.
I’m about as areligious as you can get. I’m not ‘anti-religion’, if someone feels better believing in a skyfather or flying spaghetti monster or whatever, they’re welcome to it. I’m not interested, but I won’t try to convince anyone they’re wrong. I dunno, maybe they’re right; it doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe they are.
However, I do like tradition, and the trappings of Christmas bring back fond memories. If I wish someone ‘Merry Christmas’ it just means ‘hey, I like you and want to share some of that with you, and wish you well’. ‘Happy Holidays’ (how can you have a non-religious ‘holy day’, by the way?) and ‘Seasons Greetings’? Bugger that.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
