leith

Has anyone been in stores, businesses, schools etc. where saying "Merry Christmas" is frowned upon or downright banned? There has been a trend in Canada to replace this greeting with "Happy Holidays" which I find (a) a ludicrous manifestation of political correctness (b)hypocritical nonsense in stores selling mountains of Christmas decorations and gifts (c) particularly absurd in the case of employees who don't get any holidays because the store requires them to get ready for and man the Boxing Day sales which nowadays start before Christmas Day. Fortunately, this trend may be reversing or at least slowing down but I'd be interested to hear how prevalent it is across Canada and the UK.
Merry Christmas.

Almost Canadian

JamesM

Did you get upset when Starbucks took snowflakes and snowmen of their cups too?

Oink

A lot of schools here call their Christmas tree a holiday tree.

woodworm

As far as I am concerned they could scratch Christmas off the calendar altogether. It gets on my nerves that from beginning of November in every shop I go, I have to listen to the same old Christmas songs. I wonder if employees who work in that environment get extra pay to endure it.
Maybe I should move to a muslim country where they don't celebrate it
regards , Grinch

JamesM

I like Chrimbo.

Mainly because I book 5 days holiday at work but actually take 10 and sod off to the UK for two weeks.

I then go out and get drunk with a different mate every night and he usually pays because he feels bad about my airfare.

And of course I get to see my nieces and nephews.

JamesM

But really in all seriousness. Unless you are an avid Christian you should not get pissed off about it being called something else.

And in reality if you did get pissed off that would be a very Un-Christian thing to do.

Shard

Not bothered about what it's called, but DO like all the decos, lights and shop windows. Less keen on the music.

Oakvillian

Conversely, I love Christmas music. Tonight is the first of three performances* of Messiah that I'm singing with a local choral group - it's maybe a little early in the season but since we tend to perform in church buildings they get a bit booked up through December - can't think why

But I have no problem with Canadian cultural inclusiveness adopting the "happy holidays" greeting. Not everyone in this multicultural mish-mash celebrates Christmas, although one of the hold-overs from previous generations of Christian-dominated national and provincial governments is that the only religious-linked public holidays remain those around Christian festivals. Of course, more often than not people of other faiths, or none, are amongst the most likely to wish strangers a merry Christmas, which they can do without worrying about some do-gooder deciding that somebody else might possibly take offence at the notion. As it is, I don't think I've ever seen a reliable account anywhere of anyone genuinely being offended by somebody else's wish for a merry Christmas.

It's a lot of fuss over nothing, so the best course of action is to wish others whatever seasonal greeting sits most comfortably with you, and not to get your knickers in a twist over what anyone else chooses to say - or not to say - in reply.

*edited to add, for those in Oakville and at a loose end: St Matthew's Church, 47 Reynolds St, tonight at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm (although I think Sunday's is sold out) www.masterworksofoakville.ca

JamesM

Even after a few cocktails and the karaoke machine is broken out????

Oakvillian

Only if they have this version in the playlist...

magnumpi

Terrible, no one has any respect for the (place name of your God here) on here any more. No one should be Happy or merry at this time of year. There is no excuse for this racist thread I demand it be deleted immediately.

scrubbedexpat091

I never really saw a whole lot of places who have embraced strict Happy Holiday's, Merry Christmas is still pretty prevalent in ads and in store signage.

If coming from a retail perspective as to employees saying Merry Christmas first, I can see why that isn't always permitted, if you don't the know person, you can't possibly know if they celebrate Christmas, so the approach of not having employees say it first makes sense to me.

Pica

Does all this mean that if one doesn'tbelieve in the christ child then one does not have to buy presents for ungrateful persons, accept ugly gifts, get all jolly about ..nothing, overeat, spend a fortune on daft twinkly lights & new xmas tree baubles etc etc etc ? Are we all mad or what?
Or just brainwashed sheep?

BristolUK

Makes you wonder why they created the fuss by insisting on the change when nobody had been offended doesn't it

This is what puzzles me though. How far should we take this? Wishing someone a merry xmas isn't assuming they are celebrating it.

Is it so different to saying have a nice day or have a good weekend.

What if someone doesn't want to have a nice day or they are going to do some serious religious thing over the weekend and it offends them that you might suggest they should have a good weekend?

What about atheists who don't want to have a holy day?

I don't have a religious bone in my body. Christmas is simply that time of year when people get together and exchange presents. And in the UK telly is better than other times of the year - everyone looks forward to a double issue of Radio Times.

I think for most people it has no greater religious relevance than getting married in a church. Times have changed.

So I'm in favour of having a merry xmas and I'm not offended if someone tells me Happy Hanukkah. I'll accept the good wishes intended.