“To those who are about to celebrate, we salute you.”
“While it is not (usually) disrespectful to wish somebody a Merry Christmas or a happy Holiday — nobody is going to go all Oliver Cromwell on you — you are wishing them well — presumably you should know your audience well enough to judge whether they actually care about Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever holiday it is you have in mind.”
Well see, that’s the thing. To the people who I am close to, I’m pretty well-aware of what greeting is appropriate. On social media though, I have hundreds of “friends” that are really only passing acquaintances. I don’t know who believes what, so if I want to make a blanket “Merry Christmas” statement on Christmas, I want to also be mindful of the fact that if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I’m not trying to shove it in your face. Because not everyone being wished a Merry Christmas takes it as someone “wishing them well.”
A very joyous Hanukkah to all of you.
Speaking as an almost entirely secular Jew, I’m okay with saying (and being told) Merry Xmas on the day itself. Because it’s accurate. But if I’m in various locations from, say, 12/1 - 12/23 and someone is saying Merry X-Mass I get internally defensive. Happy Holidays is fine, accurate, and accepting. Merry Xmas during the season but not on the holiday often feels like an unquestioning statement of ‘Christian’ social dominance, and in my location at least, is a deliberate attempt by some to identify outliers (Democrat, Commie, Socialist, Muslim, Atheist, LGBQT+, outcast unclean!).
Now I may also be overly sensitive, after all, I’ve never lived in an area with a noticeable number of the tribe, and that can add to the defensiveness. But ever since the declaration by the right of the fight against ‘The War on Xmas’, there has been an ever increasing number of militants on the issue, and especially in light of the violence in that group, the unthinking use of Merry Xmas raises my hackles and I have to sometimes choke back a snarl against those who don’t THINK about the implications of what they’re saying.
I say “have a good day”.
If someone says “Merry Christmas” to me, I respond “same to you!”
Now that you mention it, a genuine Christian would know on what dates of the calendar fall the 12 days of Christmas. (in particular, not 12/1 – 12/23)
That seem to have been forgotten by most people, Christians included. Christmas is considered over on the 25th for most people. No one remembers that Advent is a separate thing, even if they have Advent calendars.
To be honest, with everything going wrong this Christmas, it had slipped my mind. I’d have remembered if someone directly asked when the 12 Days of Christmas were, but that’s it.
If I don’t know that a person celebrates Christmas then I wish them a Happy Holidays. Even on 12/25. If they do then it’s Merry Christmas.
I won’t get my panties all wadded up in a bunch.
I think it nicely acknowledges the fact that it’s not everyone’s holiday, and is a refreshing contrast to the culturally-whitewashing “happy holidays” or “merry christmas”.
An organization I belong to does a small amount of holiday-aware posting on social media, and they have been doing “happy channukah to those who celebrate” “merry christmas to those who celebrate” “[other holidays] to those who celebrate” and I quite like it. Particularly because it’s just once, and on the relevant day, not a general “season of Christmas” kind of thing.
It seems appropriate in the very specific situation of addressing a diverse group of people on or very near Christmas. So, I hope those of you who celebrated had a Merry Christmas!
The whole catch-phrase is missing something essential and IMO is at best a nonsense or at worst a passive-aggressive insult.
“Merry Christmas to those who celebrate Christmas” is complete and grammatical. And makes clear who is being wished what, and makes clear who is not being wished anything at all. “Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it” is complete and grammatical, if a smidgen ambiguous as to what “it” is. But only a flaming pedant would expect “it” to mean anything but “Christmas”, and there’s little way for it to be meant or heard hostilely.
Conversely, “Merry Christmas to those who celebrate” is screwy. Do people who do not celebrate Christmas but do celebrate something in late Dec “celebrate”? Sure they do. Is that something Christmas? Nope. The sentence as written says “Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates anything around now.” Which is exactly the same as the tone-deaf “Merry Christmas” offered to everyone, even the folks for whom it’s badly inappropriate, or worse yet, knowingly inappropriate.
IMO the lack of that final “it” or “Christmas” is or can be used explicitly to mean “See, I’m playing word games with your stupid war on Christmas political correctness. So take that you culture warrior!”
IOW it completely negates the sentiment it purports to convey. If it was honestly meant to be progressive / inclusive / multi-culturally sensitive, then, like “defund the police” it was a phrase ill-chosen for its purpose that’s ripe for abuse/misuse.
FTR: I’m all for culturally sensitive and inclusive language being the default way we all communicate. IMO this phrasing is a fail at that. Perhaps a well-intentioned fail, but a fail nonetheless.
I think you’re trying too hard. It may not make perfect grammatical sense but it seems clear from the responses in the thread that the meaning is clearly understood.
I agree that the phrase is not culturally sensitive or inclusive at all. It is saying “If you celebrate Christmas, then I wish you Merry Christmas; if you don’t, then I have nothing to say to you.” As far as I’m concerned, the “war against Christmas” people have beaten back “Happy Holidays” as a greeting, and this has sprung up as the apparently (but not actually) inoffensive substitute. Saying this phrase is worse than just saying “Merry Christmas” to everyone, and if anyone said it to me (and if I were in a bad mood) I might respond “Well, I don’t. What now?”
This is the least good faith interpretation I can imagine. Does anyone really interpret it this way? Or are we seriously arguing that people should never publicly say “Merry Christmas” in any form, lest someone feel left out?
Does anyone really think about it? Or are they mouthing and listening to what they think are polite platitudes because that’s what everyone else is doing? What I wrote is the literal meaning of the expression.
If you have to say a seasonal greeting, which is a practice I could live without, there was nothing wrong with “Happy Holidays.” Even if you aren’t celebrating anything, you probably still have days off, i.e. holidays, which might be happy.
You think nobody should say “Merry Christmas” on the actual holiday of Christmas?
I get that it’s annoying to hear throughout the entire month of December, but I’m a little surprised anyone would take issue with others publicly celebrating Christmas on the day of Christmas.
To those who celebrate the holiday, Merry Christmas!
To those who celebrate the holiday, Happy Hannukah!
To those who celebrate the holiday, Happy Solstice!
To those who celebrate the holiday, Happy (fill in the blank)!
I’ve yet to read anything here that convinces me that any of those statements are offensive.
Honestly, if someone wishes me a happy [something] that isn’t part of my own tradition, I’ll just take it in the spirit it is intended.
My own inclination is to say merry Christmas, but I’ve been wished happy Hannukah, blessed Solstice etc and that’s fine and lovely - I feel like the ‘happy/blessed/merry/peaceful’ part of the greeting is the thing people are offering; the festival is just the occasion that reminds them to wish it upon others. Take kindness wherever you can find it.
I don’t wish to raise your hackles any further, but I think it’s important to note that Christmas (in the sense that it originates from a Christian festival) is a season not just a day; it’s a festival that plays out over a period of time - like Passover or Ramadan.
In the Anglican church, technically, the bit leading up to Christmas day is Advent not Christmas (Christmas runs from Christmas Eve to Epiphany Sunday), so I suppose it’s technically correct that people shouldn’t start wishing happy Christmas until the day, but not solely on the day.
I don’t imagine this helps with your stance about Christian social dominance, and I apologise if this does nothing but antagonise you.
Thank you! And may the holidays bring you another year of cultural privilege and entitlement!
When someone who looks like a white Christian wishes me a merry Christmas, I just wish “And a merry Kwaanza to you!” back to them and smile as they struggle to figure out what to do with their resentment.