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

And the home of the brave...

I honestly think these silly rules are coming from above (management) because they are trying to be all pc when actually, people do not get offended. Ive never heard anyone complaining about receiving a Merry Christmas card at work and I work with a mixture of people from all different religions/cultures. No-one forces anyone to come to Christmas do's or participate in secret santa, and all the rest. My Jewish colleagues celebrate by having huge family get togethers, they dont ignore Christmas just make the most of the holiday by having nice meals and catching up with people. Which is what its all about for the majority of us.

Like I said, its those from above.

There are no silly rules.

It is all made up.

It is all bollocks.

Wish anyone you like a Merry Christmas (except me - I hate "Merry", and always say "Happy" which cause me problems whe I want to go on to say "And a something New Year" Particularly as I was brought up to believe that "prosperous" is vulgar)

Put up whatever lights and decorations you like.

Oh, and you are allowed to eat pork if you wanr, too, And have plastic pigs in your child's farm set.

And please ignore claig. She is either insane, joking or a spambot. I like to think she is joking.

'Like I said, its those from above.'

that sums the whole thing up, that gets to the heart if the matter.

kittya is spot on. It is those from above. Nobody else has any problem with any of it.

There are silly rules made by those from above.

I do like to joke with Guardinistas.

You've yet to cite ANY of the silly rules you think are stopping you from knocking yourself out for Xmas, though.

Or find an example of ANYONE who qualifies as 'those from above' who's actually imposing your imaginary rules.

I do agree with the earlier Muslim poster who felt that Xtian apathy really wasn't something she should be worried about.

The reality is that we are, de facto, a secular country. A majority of people may tick a box that says 'Christian' when they're in hospital or filling in their dc's school forms, but a much smaller proportion actually celebrate Christmas as a religious festival.

FWIW, all those 'Happy Holiday' cards are probably balanced by events such as our end of school assembly - 8 songs, expectation that all 800 students, from diverse backgrounds, sing them - every one of the songs/carols overtly Xtian.

I really think you're worrying unnecessarily.

Umm... I once saw a Christmas episode of 'The Good Life' in which Penelope Keith's character (Margot Leadbeater?) used the phrase, "Yuletide Felicitations".

I rather like it!
After all, didn't we all used to do the Pagan thing, many, many, many, many, years ago?

Maybe you're right and maybe none of it is happening and everybody is imagining it. But Coalition government minister, Eric Pickles, thinks it is for real. He says

'The war on Christmas is over, and likes of Winterval, Winter Lights and Luminous deserve to be in the dustbin of history.'

Forget Winterval

Please. Just one example. You must have thousands at your finger tips. Just one.

Well, not everybody is imagining it, to be fair - seems to be just you & the Daily Mail.

Back on this planet, everyone's happily celebrating whatever it is they always celebrate around the shortest, darkest days of the year...as human beings have been doing for millennia.

what about the Labour thinktank proposal. It shows their thinking. We escaped and they couldn't implement it, they are out of power now and Eric Pickles and Sayeeda Warsi will ensure that they can't implement such ideas.

and Eric Pickles, and the Archbishop of York, and most importantly seeker's MIL.

Bet that's the first time those two have been anyone's Dream Team.

Civilisation is saved, everyone.

What the report written for a think tank 8 years ago/ `The report htat was simply that - apaper prepared for consideration that got no further?

Right,. Noe I know you are taking the piss. ~ood night.

Eric Pickles and Sayeeda Warsi are the dream team that won the election. The public looked at those two and compared them to Alan Johnson and Hazel Blears. The public was in doubt whatthe dream ticket was, they cast their vote and we know what the outcome was.

good night seeker, and Merry Christmas

I really, really doubt that either of those clowns could be said to have won the election - given that nobody actually won it, they may just as well have the credit, I suppose.

So. Do we have an example, yet, of Christmas 2010 being trodden into the slush by imaginary little green 'progressives'?

We really don't, do we?

not in 2010 because that was election year and no one wanted to frighten the horses that year.

Wasn't that in May? & we usually do Xmas in December, don't we?

Although if it's to celebrate Jesus's birthday, I seem to recall it should be September.

You'd think 6 months would be long enough to move on to subverting Xmas. For whatever obscure motive your 'progressives' might have to do so.

But OK, we'll allow 2009.

Any evidence of Xmas being buggered about with then?

Yes but fortunately the progressives were kicked out of power. Eric Pickles now has the reins, and a progressive he is not, and hence there will be no more winterval.

I will search teh Daily Mail archive to see if they uncovered any progressive attempts to promote winterval in 2009, although again that was close to the election, so they must have put it on hold then. 2008 is probably a better bet, as they were then throwing caution to the wind.

Any year from 1997 will do, & it doesn't even have to be the Daily Mail.

Might even be more credible if it wasn't the DM...

ok there was the winterval stuff in Birmingham in 1998. I linked to it earlier on in the thread.

I think Happy Holidays is the only acceptable offence-free greeting in the Modern Age.

As are "Baa Baa Multicultural Sheep";
"The Three Mammals of Various, But Equally Valid Sizes" ( The Three Little Pigs)
and the story of "Multicultural Non-gender Specific Human with Exemplary Facial Characteristics for their Ethnic Group and the Seven other Multicultural Non-gender Specific Humans of Diminutive but Equally Valid Stature" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

My work here is done.