Happy Holidays everyone! And a Merry Xmas to you all as well! What? now your upset at me because I am being rude and inconsiderate to Christians? You think I have taken Christ out of Christmas? Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad? Is that better?
I'm sick of people who get up in arms over taking Christ out of Christmas. Give it a rest people. Seriously...let it go. Here is why I have no problem with the Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays.
1) X is NOT exing out Christ from Christmas. That would look like, "Merry ____mas". The X is an ancient symbol FOR Christ. It's greek. It's a shorthand and a symbol...nothing more, nothing less. Do some people use it to take Christ out of Christmas? Maybe, but the X itself is not an insult to Christians and Jesus...so stop taking offense to it.
2) Christians AREN'T the only people who have a holiday in December. We act is if we own the month, when in fact, we don't. To be honest, Jesus wasn't even born in December (or at least it is very unlikely that he was)...so why do we act as if everything in December is holy? It's a freaking month people...and the 25th was a day chosen because it coincided with an ancient pagan festival, and the winter solstice. What about Hanukkah and Kwanza? Plus countless other festivals and religions who have celebrations around that day? Why do we think that we are better then everyone, and deserve exclusive rights to this day and the traditional greetings of that day.
Let's put ourselves in other peoples shoes for a second. Let's assume that Christians are the minority, and the common holiday is Hanukkah. We still celebrate Christmas, but everyone comes up to us and says, "Happy Hanukkah"...and when we reply with, "Merry Christmas", or "Happy Holidays", they get upset and angry, and tell us that we aren't celebrating the TRUE meaning of the season. How would that make us feel? We are celebrating what WE think is the true meaning of the season, and no one seems to respect or acknowledge it. Same can be said for those who have their own celebrations and festivals around the Christmas season. And what about those who DON'T celebrate it, like Jehovah's Witnesses, and atheists...how do they like having others beliefs thrown intho their face? The truth is...we can't really know what others believe. We don't know who is Jewish, who is Christian, who is muslim, hindu, atheist, jehovah's witness...we can't tell by looking (we can assume in many instances...but we all know what happens when we assume). Which is why Happpy Holidays works well for everyone. Everyone is celebrating some sort of holiday, whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or just a holiday from work and school. Is it an attack on the Christian faith to be accepting of ALL faiths, beliefs and religions? In fact, I believe it is MORE Christian to be more aware and accepting of others.
Saying Happy Holidays does not take Christ out of Christmas. Santa Clause, Christmas Trees, Presents, Reindeer...those don't take Christ out of Christmas either...what takes Christ out of Christmas is Christians who claim that they are followers of Christ, and yet they don't serve him. They claim that they love God and Jesus...and yet they neglect the poor, needy and homeless. THAT is what is taking Christ out of Christmas. Who cares what greeting we say to eachother. That's my Christmas rant. What do you think? Agree or disagree?
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah...and to everyone else who I don't know the proper greeting for your celebration, I hope that your celebration is great!
note: I got the idea for this blog from Stephen Colbert, as well as a friend of mine's (Paul Woodburn) blog. So...credit to them!
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