To prefer Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays!

[kittya]

Its too American isnt it? Its just something my friend told me about her workplace, that they arent allowed to send Happy Christmas cards to clients anymore but, Happy Holidays.

Maybe I just need to move with the times

Actually, usually communism ends up being regressive. It works fine in theory, but no system works with no one in charge, so someone takes charge. In most communist systems which have existed, that person quickly subverts the system to maximise their gains at the expense of others, leading to a two-tiered system which is not what communism is about at all.

Being progressive is about improving on the past. So, a sewer system is more progressive than dumping waste in the river, and giving other religions space to air their views alongside your own is better than calling them heretics and burning or beheading them. It has nothing to do with politics. It's just that politicians are often the ones who are "blamed" for enacting progressive policies, which in turn are usually brought into force by well-meaning individuals further down the pyramid.

I agree with you about communism. What you are describing is one form of progressive. But progressive is also a political term and is now being used more and more. As all politics it is really spin. But if you look at every council that has winterval or similar policies you find that they are all left-wing progressives.

I have to get some sleep. Good night and Merry Christmas.

YANBU
The deliberate avoidance of the word Christmas sucks

kittya , Christmas is as big a deal in the States as it is in the UK and Ireland, but Thanksgiving is also a very big holiday, and for some families might be the one time each year when everyone makes an effort to be together. The day before Thanksgiving is always the busiest travelling day of the year, so I guess that says something.

Christmas definitely has the edge in terms of religious significance (obviously), commercial hype, excitement for the kids (there are no presents at Thanksgiving!) and months-long build-up, but in terms of family traditions and reunions the two days are about equal, in my experience (i.e. in my family and among the people I've known). Many families will spend Thanksgiving with one set of in-laws, then Christmas with the other, and swap the following year.

Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday of November, so the typical time off work / school would be Thursday, Friday and the weekend. That depends on the job of course and sadly the whole "Black Friday" thing has kind of taken over to the degree that anyone working in retail would likely have to go in on the Friday.

If I were to refer to the "holiday season" I would mean the period of time starting with Thanksgiving, through Christmas and up until New Year's Day. I think most Americans would mean the same thing (substitute for Christmas Hannukah, winterval, or whatever if you wish).

Christmas in the US can involve having fewer days off than Thanksgiving, depending on what day of the week it falls on and what you work at. Owing to the plethora of holidays around the end of the year, December and the first week or ten days of January tend to be very slow in American offices, with various employees taking days off here and there from Rosh Hashanah in September, Ramadan, Sukkot, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, western Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, Orthodox Christmas, Chinese New Year.

i didn't think anything of wishing people 'merry christmas' until i read 'have a little faith' (by mitch albom i think). i still say 'merry christmas' mostly, but on one occasion chose to use 'happy holidays' instead. (to dd2's grade one teacher) i'm just more aware of the greeting now i think, rather than scattering it indiscriminately.

so, off to amazon and buy it, mners various.

Nobody has ever been about to produce a fisrt hand account of people being stopped from celebrating Christmas. I've asked lots of times in lots of contexts and no one's ever come up with proper evidence.

As I've said before, I was standing with my MIL under a string of lights spelling Merry Christmas in Bradford City Centre when she told me that they werent allowed to celebrate Christmas any more!

Red cross bans Christmas

The BBC has the same story, but its headline is the exact opposite of the Daily Mail's

Red Cross denies banning Christmas

and yet the details of the story are the same.

The BBC article then goes on to say

'Confirming the ban at the charity's 430 shops, Sir Nicholas said'

so according to the BBC, one minute there is a ban, the next minute there isn't. Is this BBC correctness gorn mad?

Red cross doesn't ban Christmas, not now or in the 8 years since that article was originally published.

In fact the BBC even created a talking point so that viewers could discuss the "ban"

Christmas ban - sensible or insane

Quite a few comments suggest that this was political correctness gorn mad.

Presumably not being allowed to send Xmas cards to clients anymore means the person in charge of buying or commissioning cards to be sent out to clients thought a secular message was more in keeping with the company's brand, its clientbase etc..,its not really 'banning christmas' though is it? (funny how when you look into these things they never are, despite Bishop Sentamu's objections).

I sent 'seasonal best wishes' to a supplier today who I know is Muslim by name (although no idea if they are practising).'Merry Xmas' just felt wrong as much for the Merry as the Xmas - which always reads to me as getting merry...

claig I don't think that your trying to paint 'progressive' as a dirty word is going to fly. Isn't the opposite of progressive reactionary?

A non-story from 8 years ago concerning the Red Cross's fundamental non-partisan stance. You'll have to do better than that!

'Isn't the opposite of progressive reactionary?'

that's what progressives say, but I thought the opposite was sensible and respectful of traditions

From the point of view of a non Christian, I have no problem at all sending Christmas cards with a "merry Christmas" message in to all my friends who do celebrate Christmas but I must say I do appreciate them making the effort to send me a "blank" one with just happy new year on it or any other message that is not religious. TBH I send a lot of cards at Christmas but no one has ever (that is not true, one of my neighbours did once actually) sent me a "Happy Eid" card even people who are very close to me.

Come on, I'm still waiting for examples of Christmas being banned to appease the delicate sensibilitites of other faiths. I'm waiting here with my Sword of Enlightenment and Bow of Reason to slay them!

A progressive think tank came up with some suggestions

Downgrade Christmas

Fortunately, the Tories had Sayeeda Warsi on the case. She said

"You don't build community cohesion by throwing out our history and denying the fundamental contribution Christianity has played and does play to our nation.
"As a British Muslim I can see that - so why others can't just staggers me."
And she attacked ceremonies to mark the registration of a baby.
"The thought of Gordon Brown sharing responsibility with me for bringing up my children sends a shiver down my spine. I thought we got rid of communism?"

A 4 year old report to a think tank that was never implemented. Or even put forward to Government.

Next.

Without fail every year it is Muslim girls at the school I work at who give me the vast majority of cards not one of which says 'Season's Greetings' or 'Happy Winterval'.

And the phrase 'political correctness gone mad' is just a very useful way to identify a complete cock in advance of Christmas so that you have fewer Merry Winterval cards to send.

exactly right, faiths such as Muslims are not in favour of 'Season's Greetings' etc., as the Muslim, Sayeeda Warsi says. It is only progressives who come up with these policies.

Christmas starts in this house from today. Anyone thinking of banning its religious festival context can go and gorge themselves materialistic silly as far as I am concerned but leave the rest of us to do it our way please.

Merry Christmas All
and Love and Prayers too

Why all this ~American bashing?

I definitely love 'Merry Christmas' and dislike happy holidays...I still think that's something you say to someone before their summer!! But I disike it because it represents further wishy washy erosion of British culture....I don't care where or why it came from.

Sending a seasons greetings to a Muslim is ridiculous. Either Merry Christmas or don't send a card. This is Britain and I'm pretty sure Muslims knew Britain celebrated Christmas before they converted or moved here.