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?

Bella.
Maybe you should have circulated a photo of them to expose the policy for the nonsense it is.

One of the women did send me one of the selfies (with us all in) with the line "Sorry for take advantage of your office door"

I assumed it was a poor translation rather than a confession that something much more troubling has gone on before I arrived.

Haha!!

Sorry LassWiTheDelicateAir it was a silly comment. I wasn't trying to be a twat or anything.

"The Holidays" does encompass Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and anything else in the US. They talk about "The Holiday Season" which extends from the end of November till New Years (sic).

But the phrase "Happy Holidays" in the US does not include Thanksgiving. For one thing you don't start hearing it until after Thanksgiving. One of the great things about Thanksgiving in the US is that it helps hold Christmas at bay until the end of November.

Everyone can safely say Happy Thanksgiving because it is celebrated by all. Happy Holidays is for addressing people during the Christmas/festive season when you don't know their religion. And Jews in the US don't wish people who may not be Jewish Happy Hannukah. Similarly, many Christians in the US don't say Merry Christmas to people whose religion may not be Christian. It's been that way for a long time in the US.

I've lived here nearly twenty years and never heard "Happy Holidays" before Turkey Day. Now the day after is fair game, many Americans put their Christmas tree up on T'giving day weekend (and haul it back down on Boxing Day).

Why are people such joyless twats? I like to celebrate as many holidays as possible. Why spoil it for others?

Oh and I wish people Merry Christmas too!

.I try to follow this practice and so far it's never done me wrong

Dh says thanksgiving isn't included in happy holidays. There, a man has spoken so we can all rest easy.

Google says it does though.

But if you think about it the Americans only give over small windows of time to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. They're one day only affairs and then life is back to normal (as opposed to the way Christmas is celebrated here). So they're not Happy Holidaying one another from the end of November until the end of December.

Dh says thanksgiving isn't included in happy holidays. There, a man has spoken so we can all rest easy.

Well, in this case a man would be correct.

Thanksgiving is essentially a one-day affair in the US, but Christmas can stretch over several days. There are often parties and other celebrations leading up to Christmas Day. But it is definitely not observed and celebrated in the US in the pervasive way it is in the UK.

I don't agree that Thanksgiving is not part of the holiday season. While you won't say Happy Holidays for Thanksgiving, it kicks off the holiday season, with Christmas shopping starting on earnest on what is now called Black Friday. In the northern half of the country, outside decorations are put up ahead of the cold weather.

Thanksgiving is totally non-controversial (religiously) and fairly stress free (no shopping), although comes with expectations that you will return to the family homestead.

It's fairly underwhelming for Brits in America. They make a big fuss over a roast dinner that happens every Sunday in Britain.

I like "Yuletide Greetings" Pagans are cool!

I don't think anyone is saying that Thanksgiving it's not part of the holiday season in the US. It definitely is. It's usually considered the kickoff of the holiday season in the US. But it is not part of the Happy Holidays greeting. We have Happy Thanksgiving for that. Happy Holidays covers everything after Thanksgiving up until the New Year.

I think that's what I said.

Sorry Fffion I now see that your were responding to a post by someone suggesting that Thanksgiving is not part of the holiday season in the US.

I plan to persist in saying Happy Holidays to all and sundry this season because it seems to piss off the Trumpsters so much. I will even start early, maybe Halloween.

You have it spot on melj
😀

Anyone who can't understand 'here are some happy sentiments' or willingly chooses to prove how they don't need any good wishes are just moody individuals who like being rude.

A Sikh colleague who had recently got married was asking what went in a Christmas stocking as she wanted to "do" Christmas properly with her new husband.
She got a bit irritated by responses like " a satsuma, a handful of nuts, piece of coal, sugar mouse" as she thought we were winding her up!
If someone wishes me Eid Mubarak or whatever, I just smile and say it back.
No skin off my nose to be polite and friendly to people who have just been pleasant to me.

Haha yes I'm massively underwhelmed every year! 😁

This poor bloke was murdered by a fellow Muslim for wishing Christians "a very happy Easter to my beloved Christian nation". Apparently the Ahmadis (of which the victim was one) are considered heretics;

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-36732596

There was a bit more to it than that. The poor guy was the wrong 'type' of Muslim for that murdering bastard and said some other things that he took exception to. So whereas any sane person would debate or try to reason, this person decided to drive up from Birmingham to murder him. Whose deity asks this if them?

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

Because racists perpetuate myths about non-white people getting offended at the slightest thing, and a very large number of people believe them

Because (so called) do gooders cause often cause more trouble than they're worth, usually trying to score "Im so good/worthy/pc" points by deciding, without asking a single non-white person, what offends us and what doesn't.

This is like so many people jumping up and down saying you can't serve halal it offends Hindus and Sikhs. Without actually asking us if it offends us. [I'm a Hindu and I don't care if the meat is halal or kosher].

IRL I've only ever met one person who takes offence when people say "I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers" or "Merry Christmas" etc. Attention-seeking immature twat. Otherwise pretty much everyone - atheists / pagans / people of all beliefs just say thanks and move on!

It’s political correctness gone made.

I wish people a merry Xmas.

If they are from a different faith I would wish them a Happy Hanukkah, a lovely Diwali or a great Eid.

Really don’t see what the problem is.