Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

I'm enjoying my family today, but scheduled this post in case you were able to grab a moment to yourself.

You know all the hoo-hah over the expression "Happy Holidays" in lieu of "Merry Christmas"? Personally, it's never bothered me either way. In this day and age, I consider it astonishing if a cashier wishes me a happy anything. So if it comes in the form of "Happy Holidays", I throw a greeting back at them and am on my way. When you think about it, there are a lot of events on the calendar this month. We live in a country that is a melting pot of ethnicity and traditions, so of course December isn't just about a Christian Christmas. For instance, there's the tradition of Santa, Kwanzaa, Omisoka, St. Lucia Day, Boxing Day, Al-Hijra,Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, and even occasionally Eid-al-Adha depending on the year.

I understand"Merry Christmas" is a Christian expression that a non-Christian may not feel at-home with (probably because it's a combination of Christ and Mass. Mass is a festival, so basically it's a festival honoring Christ.) But I think those people are the minority, at least according to polls stating that 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian.

What I do believe is that most folks genuinely want to have a single, all-encompassing greeting during the month of December. However, I don't think "Happy Holidays" is the answer for the generic greeting. Why? Well, "Happy Holidays" doesn't mean what you may think it means.

"The word 'holiday' itself is a middle English derivative meaning 'holy day'. The word denotes a religious festival, a consecrated day called a 'holy day' – a day set apart. When people tell you 'Happy Holidays', they are, in effect, saying 'Happy Holy Days'. "

When I look to my trusty Webster dictionary, which I still haven't retired, it states that Holy means

"set apart to the service of God; characterized by perfection and transcendence, commanding absolute adoration and reverence, spiritually pure, Godly, evoking or meriting awe."


Further, when I look up in the dictionary the word holiday to see what it says, the first thing listed under the definition is holy day (the other meanings are a day off or vacation, which really doesn't apply to this discussion unless you're going skiing in Aspen, and if you were, I wouldn't say, "Happy Holidays", I'd say, "Have a nice holiday". Actually, I'd probably say, "Have a nice trip." Anyway, I don't think the cashier at Target is wishing me a nice vacation or a happy day off. I'm a stay at home mom. I never get a day off.)

So it seems to me that if someone is looking for a politically correct, non-religious, non-Christian, non-Jewish, non-Muslim, non-non way to wish everyone they meet a happy something or other, "Seasons Greetings" would probably be about the only safe bet I can think of. Just wait and see if it doesn't catch on.