Merry Christmas VS Happy Holidays

I avoid saying either of them. I just hate the holidays in general. It's all a joke these days and simply a waste of time, money and effort. Bring on the new year woo hoo (see I'm really not a big grouch)

 

All three: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy Hanukah.

If I know the person is non-religious or I do not know, I say Happy Holidays.
If I know the person is Jewish, I say Happy Hanukah.
If I'm in a conservative small town, I might say Merry Christmas to a cashier or gas station attendant, and they say Merry Christmas back.

I was surprised when I once had a Jewish dentist, and he wished me Merry Christmas when I went in one December. His wife was Catholic, though.

 

Usually Merry or Happy Yule is what I will say

but in the company of other Happy Holidays or just plain nothing

it's all crap anyway...Black Friday, spend spend spend...good ole holidays

Foxface

 

I'm more into saying "happy holidays" now, probably because of all the hate it gets from my Facebook friends, especially my dad. What's wrong with including everyone? Not that there is anything wrong with saying something else either.

Christmas is very religious in my family, it's all about Jesus. So that's how I tend to see it as I'm used to that and just in general I'm not as much of a fan of Christmas as I used to be as an ex-Christian. Perhaps I am of the general holiday idea though. Pictures of snow and shiny blue and white colors go through my mind.

 

Merry Christmas has such a nice ring to it, and I often choose words for sound over meaning. Still, even though I'm a Christian, I don't really like the idea of certain days devoted to fragments of a religion in the first place, so Christmas doesn't carry too much spiritual significance for me.

 

I don't care who I annoy

I cheerfully say humbug

advantage to being autistic - I do hate Christmas - bad memories & all

 

I say both and I use them interchangeably unless I know specifically that someone does not celebrate Christmas or prefers Happy Holidays.

I am just tired of the fighting over it, and the so called "War on Christmas". Happy Holidays is the shorten version of saying Happy Holy Days, which is what Christmas technically is. This also apples to Happy Xmas. Xmas does not take Christ out of Christmas, because X is a shorten version of saying Χριστος, which is Greek for Christ. One can actually write Christopher as Xopher and it still means Christopher.

 

People getting pissed off about other people using "Happy Holidays" (or anything else other than "Merry Christmas") is probably the second worst thing about Christmas in the modern world. The first worst of course being the ravenous consumerism.

 

Well even though it's not a "new year" yet I generally would say "Happy/Merry New Year's," since it's the only "big" holiday that doesn't try to be more than what it actually is..


I typically dislike the religious ones, so.. although I will give a "Happy Hanukkah" to someone I know is Jewish, for sentiment's sake.

 

Yeah, that makes me kind of sad actually. I need a real secular greeting. Any suggestions? Maybe "season's greetings?" I don't think I ever liked that one though.

 

I say Merry Christmas. I don't see why some people find it offensive considering how secular the holidays are. I know Jewish and Hindu people that celebrate Christmas, and they have no issues with people saying Merry Christmas, so I don't really either.

 

I usually say "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays". Today I said that to numerous people I had spoken to in a doctor's office waiting room as I left. There's no reason not to say both. If they celebrate Christmas, fine, otherwise Happy Holidays encompasses Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any other holiday along with New Years.

If I know for a fact that someone is Jewish, then I will say Happy Hanukkah.

But lots of people celebrate Christmas even if they aren't Christian or religious at all. I'm an atheist, one of my co-workers is Muslim and another is Jewish, and they still celebrate the secular parts of Christmas, with Santa Claus and Christmas trees and gifts and all that. (These two in particular actually take part in SantaCon, which is basically a pub crawl of people dressed up as Santa or elves or gifts or Christmas trees going from bar to bar getting wasted .)

The truth is, Christmas IS the main holiday in December, a large majority of the world celebrates it, it's basically the reason why it's considered a holiday month. It's the reason December is considered the holiday season. Jews just happen to celebrate Hanukkah around the same time, so it gets considered by non-Jews as a sort of Jewish Christmas, but in reality it's not the same sort of holiday otherwise. It's pretty much an exclusively religious Jewish holiday, whereas Christmas, for better or for worse, has been secularized and commercialized to the point where you can celebrate it without giving a darn about the birth of Christ.

The holiest of Jewish holidays is actually Yom Kippur, usually sometime in September or October, but you don't hear people going around saying "Happy Yom Kippur" or "Happy Holidays" then. The only reason Hanukkah, a less important Jewish holiday, gets such recognition among non-Jews is because of its proximity to Christmas.

So both the "War on Christmas" whiners on Fox News who insist on saying only "Merry Christmas", and the people who think they're being oh-so-inclusive and tolerant by refusing to say "Merry Christmas", need to take a chill pill. If you really want to be inclusive then you should be wishing Jews and Muslims and other religious groups "Happy Holiday" messages for all their other more important holidays, many of which you probably have never heard of and have no idea what they are about or when they occur. Suddenly pretending to care so much about recognizing the holidays of religious minorities just because they occur around the same time as a major Christian holiday- and thus refusing to say "Merry Christmas"- strikes me as just a petty way to stick it to the Christians, no less petty than those who insist on only saying "Merry Christmas" as a way to stick it to the Jews, Muslims, atheists, etc.

So in short, there is no reason not to say both, depending on context. If you know that someone is Jewish and only celebrating Hanukkah, then saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Hanukkah" is a stupid assholish thing to do. If you know that someone is a devout Christian religiously celebrating Christmas, then say "Merry Christmas". For random people on the street, about whom you have no idea what holidays they celebrate, I see no problem with saying both "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays".

 

Neither. If someone says "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" to me I just respond by saying "you too."

 

Merry Christmas. Always have, always will. I don't get upset if a person says "happy holidays" but I usually tespond by saying "Thanks, merry Christmas." I always smile, and I don't mean to spite anyone I just don't like changing tradition.

 

I say Merry Christmas, and to those who are offended, I did not have to tell you to have a good day, it is my politeness that does, if you do not celebrate Christmas, then reply with Happy Kwanzaa, Hanuka, ect. and I'll smile back because I feel letting people celebrate whatever they want and wishing happiness to others despite different religious beliefs matters more than anything else in this era.

 

This only seems to be an issue in the United States of America.

 

I generally don't say either unless a cashier or someone says it to me first; the saying itself now just feels so commercialized to me. To family, it's Merry Christmas.

Really though, someone getting pissed off over being told Merry Christmas is just like the people who froth at the mouth if they're told God Bless You by a random stranger when they sneeze. You're not gonna burst into flames. Relax. Someone's just trying to be nice, and to me it's a pretty pointless issue to exercise No Good Deed Goes Unpunished over.

 

Glædelig Jul.

 

Merry Christmas. I could say Happy Holidays, but why? Except in the case of Hasidic Jews, nobody looks Jewish, so Happy Hanukkah is out unless I'm told they're Jewish. And I know exactly 0 black people who celebrate Kwanzaa. Then there's all the other December holidays from around the world and history up to today that nobody really cares about. Not my problem being technically accurate for my holiday greetings: I'm an atheist. Technically, all your religious holidays are bullshit in my opinion. You don't like that I wished you a Merry Christmas instead of whatever holiday you do celebrate? Too bad. I'll say it again next year, and the year after that.

 

I was sure Hanukah had a C in front of the h?

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I don't say either, I'm like the grinch I guess even though I buy my pets presents :lol: