to have never heard anyone ever object to someone wishing the a "Merry Christmas"?

[DrSeuss]

Has anyone, ever, heard anyone of any faith or none object to this? Even Richard Dawkins says it! My Muslim friends wish me Merry Christmas, Mayim Bialik of Big Bang fame wishes her FB followers Merry Christmas despite being an Orthodox Jew!
Surely anyone with half a brain accepts that someone is offering you their good wishes and just returns them? Or, if someone says, "Well actually, I'm Jewish/Muslim/whatever and don't do Christmas.", surely you just say, "Sorry, I didn't realise, have a good holiday."

So why the big deal about the fact that we should/shouldn't say it?

It's just that well known American minority namely Evangelical Christians making a fuss about their "persecution", isn't it?

Isn't the Happy Holidays things more to include Jewish people who might be celebrating hanukkah?

I always thought that was an American thing, as it also incorporates Thanksgiving as well as Xmas and Hanukah? I could be wrong though, apologies if so!

There is a very vocal minority of Christians in the US who are determined that they are routinely oppressed, despite any evidence to the contrary. They seem to be good at getting het up about nameless people objecting to the use of the word Christmas. I suspect that few if any ever did object. It's like the Starbucks cup thing. A red cup to me says Christmas. I don't need any more.

Maybe this instead?

My Muslim friends wish me a merry Christmas, just as I wish them Eid Mubarak. My Hindu friends equally wish people a Happy Christmas and I try to keep up with their festivals but there are loads so I usually only remember Diwali

I don’t mind when people wish me Merry Christmas.

I wouldn’t necessarily wish people a Good Yomtov or Shana Tova though, only because those festivals aren’t so widely known!

SentimentalLentil (great name 😊)

"Isn't the Happy Holidays things more to include Jewish people who might be celebrating hanukkah?"

That's what I thought too - an attempt to cover all bases.

Previous posters who suggested using "given name" instead of "christian name" - I wouldn't have been sure whether that was my first or last name as both names were given to me, ifkwim. I generally use first and last name, as that is the norm where I live, but I know that is problematic with some asian cultures as they do it the other way around. Most online forms, though, use first and last name so it's not just me.

At least I know now that given name means first name.

I tend to say "Happy Christmas" by do not wince at merry
Christmas.

Isn’t this mostly just a myth?

Much like all of the ‘straight bananas’ stuff regarding the EU.

I'm American and Jewish and TB completely H I'm more comfortable with "Happy holidays." When I moved to the UK from New York I had to adjust to the default Christmas greeting. I'm not one of those professionally offended types that seem to populate MN so I don't spend time worrying about it, but I don't celebrate Christmas and I don't think saying "Merry Christmas"is the same as saying "Season's greetings," "Happy holidays," "Happy New Year," etc. I know people who say it are being nice and it's not worth bringing up, but privately I don't see why we wouldn't all just err on the side of being inclusive. It takes the same amount of breath to say a greeting that applies to everyone.

No one in the UK genuinely objects to merry Christmas. I used to work for a highly multicultural city council, and we used happy holiday, to cover the myriad midwinter festivals

Exactly. I used to work in Birmingham, actual home of Winterval, and all my Muslim colleagues wished everyone Happy Christmas.

Winterval, btw, was a term the Council used to mean "all the different festivals that occur during the winter, including Christmas, Hannukah & Divali". It was never intended to replace Christmas or any other festival -that was just the Daily Mail's fevered imagination.

I would have assumed given name was the actual name you were originally (given) baptised with, as opposed to your “known as” or nickname?

I couldn't say 'Happy Holidays'. If I did I'd have to put on a cod American accent and add in a 'y'all' somewhere. It would just feel so foreign to me.

I'd say first name, second name. Just in case anyone had changed their name for religulious reasons!

That's ok, just say happy hanukkah instead

I'm not Jewish but we have a big Jewish population where I like and it seems strange to wish a merry Christmas when they are having a festival too and you can't tell if someone is Jewish or not. I'm sure that they won't be offended by it but it just seems a bit rude when it takes zero effort.

@Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar - now I'm confused again. So is given name your full name (e.g. Mary Murphy) rather than first name (e.g. Mary)?

That's what I would think, but if I'd converted and say changed my name from Mary to Fatima then I'd get all confused by 'given name'. I'd ask 'by whom?'

Winterval sounds like a great option. I never heard of it though, just the Happy Holidays in the US, which I hate. It's just too perky for my liking.

Festivas! (With thanks to Seinfeld)

I might start saying 'winter blessings' or 'December delights' or 'Arse end of the year merriment to you'

I might start trying out 'Splendid Saturnalia' for size.

And just to make it even more confusing, @Fekko, I wouldn't presume second name to mean surname. I would wonder why you wanted to know my middle names . I would use Last name or surname.

True!

@montacute

Is December Delights like Afternoon Delight? Sounds like it needs to be said with a wink and a nudge