Merry Christmas!

A friend of mine started a blog with a title that said this:

"Happy Holidays (I actually prefer Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka, or Eid ul-Fitr as the case may be)"

To which I replied:

Die-hard Christian fundamentalists are usually the ones who object to "Happy Holidays," but since so many celebrations fall on- or about- this time of year, it's a handy phrase for including them all....
Solstice, Saturnalia, Christmas, Channuakh, Kwaanza, Eid, Yule, and New Year's ... to say nothing of those Orthodox and Ethiopians versions of Christmas.

I'm quite happy to say "Merry Christmas" on Christmas Day and "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" the rest of the time.

This is about the time of year I post my annual rant about Christians bitching about "putting Christ back into Christmas."

Without getting into an entire blog about the subject here, suffice to say he was never IN Christmas in the first place . . . . but . . . .

... since Christmas has become such an integral part of our cycle of celebrations and a real feature in our national identity, I don't mind wishing Christians a merry Christmas on Christmas day just as I don't object to wishing Muslims a joyous Eid ul-Adha or Jews a happy Hannukah on their respective days.

So.... happy Christmas everyone.

Keep me happy by NOT dropping the Put-Christ-Back-In-Christmas bomb on me, okay?

I've actually been delighted that I haven't been assaulted by it more that twice, total, so far this year.

.

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PS: I will do my annual rant sometime soon, though.

I mean, traditional values must be upheld. . . . right?