Tag Archives: happy holidays

religious news

Why object to ‘happy holiday’?

Quiz time, y’all: Who among us really objects to retail employees wishing their customers a “happy holiday” rather than “Merry Christmas”?

At the risk of generalizing, I submit that those who object are either: close-minded, ignorant of those around them, also ignorant of the “religious liberty” clause in the Constitution, just plain bigoted.

I never, ever have objected to receiving a “happy holidays” wish from a retailer. I also am a Christian who celebrates Christmas fully, relishing the commercial aspect as well as the religious significance of the holiday.

I also recognize that my religious orientation is far from the only one being observed by my neighbors, or even my friends. I live in a community with a significant Muslim population. I see women with hijabs on their heads daily; I also presume the men who accompany them also are of the Muslim faith.

Why wish someone a Merry Christmas who doesn’t observe the holiday? A “happy holiday” would suffice. Why, they likely would smile back and wish the same for the retail employee.

Donald Trump once stupidly asserted that if he were elected POTUS that he would “make” businesses wish customers a “Merry Christmas.” Of course, the president has no authority to issue such an order. But … it played well among the MAGA base that helped elect their moronic leader to office in 2016.

The simple act of wishing people a happy holiday is a recognition of the pluralistic society in which we live. It should offend no one — not a single patriotic American — even a little bit to hear it.

I submit the pluralism plays a huge part in “making America great.”

national news

Hoping we can declare ‘ceasefire’ in phony war against Christmas

Donald Trump vowed when he ran for president that he would ensure that business employees wish their customers a “Merry Christmas,” as if he had the authority to issue such a mandate.

Well, he got elected, of course, and he has kept up the “Merry Christmas” mantra during his time in office. Never mind, naturally, that many millions of Americans don’t celebrate Christmas. Why? They are of different faiths, but that doesn’t faze the president even though he was elected to represent all Americans.

Conservative media have made a lot over the years about the phony “war on Christmas.” They suggest that media liberals have made wishing everyone a Merry Christmas a form of insult, that they have guilted Americans into wishing folks the milquetoast “happy holidays.”

I have never taken offense to the “happy holidays” greetings, even though I do celebrate Christmas … but that’s just me. Nor do I have any problem wishing people a Merry Christmas. I did so today to a young woman in an Allen, Texas, restaurant who served us a wonderful meal. She accepted my salutation with a broad smile.

So, with all of that I want to declare my hope that we can declare a ceasefire in this idiotic war on Christmas nonsense. There is no such media war. Donald Trump can wish Merry Christmas all he wishes. That’s fine.

It’s also fine with me if a business employee wishes me a “happy holidays.”

This is not a time for conflict, division and rancor. It’s a time for joy, peace and tranquility.

national news

Is POTUS going to spoil the holiday spirit again?

I’m sure you remember when Donald John Trump was campaigning for president and he said he would require business employees to wish their customers a “Merry Christmas.”

As if he had the authority to do such a thing.

If he’s elected president, the Republican nominee said, he would bring Christmas back into play. No more “Happy Holidays” for that guy. Swell. 

It’s as if Christmas ever disappeared. Which it didn’t. It never has. It never will in a society such as ours where we place so much emphasis on Christmas, whether in the secular, gift-buying, retail frenzy sense or in the spiritual, Christian-based celebration.

What is likely to annoy me in the extreme would be to hear the president make this Merry Christmas brouhaha — a figment of POTUS’s imagination — part of the myriad holiday events in which he will take part.

That would ruin the event. Tree lighting ceremonies well could become platforms for the president to make idiotic declarations about how he is bringing “Merry Christmas” back from the dead.

I am a baptized Christian, a believer in the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. However, I never — ever! — have taken offense when someone wishes me a “Happy Holidays.” That individual is likely a stranger. He or she doesn’t know a thing about me. He or she might not want to offend me by wishing me a greeting aimed at those who worship a certain way. For that matter, that person might be a flaming atheist who cannot bring herself or himself to mentioning Christmas in any fashion. I would have no idea.

I am OK with that. Honest. It doesn’t matter one bit to me.

Therefore, I find all this Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays kerfuffle to be a made-up, phony, bogus, dubious controversy.

We likely will be able to rest assured that the president of the United States is intent on ensuring that it stays at the top of people’s minds.

business news

Ready for the next ‘war on Christmas’?

Bill O’Reilly doesn’t have a national cable news network these days from which he can lambaste what he has labeled the phony “war on Christmas.”

The Fox News Channel kicked Bill-O off the air after he was accused of sexual harassment. But . . . his legacy lives on in the hearts and minds of those who continue to suggest that the “liberal mainstream media” have declared “war on Christmas” by promoting the dreaded “happy holidays” greeting instead of “Merry Christmas.”

That’s all ridiculous.

The so-called war on Christmas has commenced. My wife and I took a gander this afternoon en route to a Thanksgiving dinner with our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter at the “troops” lining up outside a JC Penney store at the Fairview Town Center Mall.

There will be other such lineups occurring later tonight and throughout the next few weeks leading up to Christmas.

Yep, the war is being waged not by the media but by retailers who sucker people into stores to do battle with each other over the latest trendy toys, the latest video games, the latest gadget, outfit or . . .  whatever.

I’ve never bought into the bogus notion that the war on Christmas is the figment of the “mainstream media.” The reality lies in the minds of corporations seeking to parlay our lust for material goods into a Christmas frenzy that will play out in stores across the land.

I will not suit up for this war, thank you very much. It’s not that I am better than anyone else. It’s just that when I was much younger I had a brief encounter with a real war in a far away land. I don’t want to take part in any phony rendition of the term here at home.

So, let the real war on Christmas commence without me.

I’ll reserve my energy for the real thing in just a little more than month. Others of you can just knock yourselves out. Just don’t let me hear about fistfights — or worse — at the mall. Deal?

national news

About that ‘war on Christmas’

There once was a time when I never felt a twinge of self-consciousness when I wished someone “Merry Christmas.”

I’d go to a retail store. I would make a purchase. I’d take my merchandise. I would wish the store clerk a Merry Christmas. He or she would respond in kind; maybe the clerk would say it first and I would respond.

No big deal. It’s what we did.

Then came this goofy “War on Christmas” mantra. It came from conservative media talking heads and writers, who got their underpants knotted up over an alleged conspiracy by the liberal media to downplay Christmas references during this holiday season.

In my mind it served to highlight what we many of us knew all along, which is that not everyone celebrates Christmas. Our nation’s population comprises many more non-Christians these days: Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc.

So, where do we stand today?

I do not take one tiny bit of offense when someone wishes me “Happy Holidays.” Nor do I flinch when they say “Merry Christmas.” I take both greetings the same way: as expressions of good cheer during a cheerful and joyful holiday.

Donald John Trump Sr. declared in 2016 while campaigning for the presidency that retailers would again wish customers a Merry Christmas if he were elected president — as if the office gives him the power and authority to mandate such a greeting.

Give me a break!

I guess I am left to offer a derisive word of “thanks” to those media talking heads for holiday-shaming us by declaring the existence of some phony “war on Christmas.”

There’s never been a war, unless you discount the hyper-commercialism of the holiday and the mayhem created by the first Friday after Thanksgiving. That’s where the alleged “war” is being fought.

Hey, let’s all have a happy holiday season.

Shall we?

Uncategorized

Nothing wrong with 'Happy Holidays'

This comes from a friend of mine in a Facebook post.

“Let’s get this straight right now. If you wish me Happy Holidays I’m going to tell you ‘thanks.’ I may even wish you Merry Christmas in return. I am certainly not going to get ticked off because someone might say happy holidays, the holidays are happy. So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!”

There you have it.

I join my friend in refusing to take offense if someone wishes me a generic “Happy Holidays” greeting.

That someone likely is a stranger. He or she might be someone I see at the grocery store. We might meet at the gasoline pump as we fill our vehicles with fuel. I might see this person at my part-time job.

During this holiday season, it’s good to remember that next week is the start of Hanukkah, one of holiest of Jewish holidays, begins. What in the world is so terribly wrong with wishing a Jew a “happy holiday” season, even though you might not even know the person’s creed when you make that particular wish?

A Muslim woman walked into the auto dealership where I work part time. Were I to wish her a holiday greeting, I surely wouldn’t wish her a Merry Christmas. She might have offered a Christmas greeting to me, which would have suited me just fine.

My friend’s Facebook post puts all this holiday/Christmas nonsense in its proper perspective.

2014 is coming to an end. The next year will produce its own set of challenges.

Let’s not sweat the small stuff and enjoy this time of the year.

 

national news

One more time on 'War on Christmas'

I’ve already pontificated on how I think the so-called “War on Christmas” is a trumped-up phenomenon, courtesy of the conservative mainstream media.

Allow me this one more brief note on the issue. Then I’ll move on to something else.

Conservative talking heads lament the “happy holidays” greeting that some retailers insist their employees give to shoppers as evidence of the phony war. I say: So what?

I prefer to wish people a Merry Christmas when I encounter them. Why? Well, I celebrate the holiday right along with the rest of the Christian world. I understand its religious significance and I enjoy most of the trappings that come with the holiday.

But the “happy holidays” greeting isn’t meant to insult me. I take zero offense at hearing it from total strangers.

They don’t know a thing about me. They don’t know whether I’m a Christian, or whether I worship some other faith that doesn’t celebrate Christmas.

What in the name of God Almighty is wrong with someone wishing a total stranger a happy holiday?

The war on Christmas isn’t being waged by those who are trying to please those they meet during a busy shopping season. Last time I checked, I realized that the United States of America is a diverse country filled with 300 million or so individuals of vastly different faiths. I see them regularly during the course of most of my days at my part-time job.

Am I going to wish them a Merry Christmas when I know they don’t celebrate this holy holiday season? No.

Nor do I take offense when someone makes a good faith effort to wish me happiness during this holiday season.

There. I’ve had my say.

I’ll enjoy the rest of my Christmas season.