Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The "Holiday Season"

Okay, so everyone has their thoughts on this topic, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. First up: When the season actually starts. Personally, I don't think there should be ANY Christmas commercials until the day after Thanksgiving. There is a holiday between Halloween and Christmas, in case you'd forgotten. I'm fortunate enough to work someplace that recognizes the importance of Thanksgiving (and so do our customers). Also, Christmas commercials are a reminder that winter is on the way, which is not exactly welcome in early November. I don't know, the day after Halloween just seems too soon to start hawking snow globes or Christmas sales. Also, nothing annoys me more than ABC Family's "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas." It's not enough to have a pre-Christmas movie special; we need 25 Christmas movies before Christmas. But even that isn't enough anymore; now we need the pre-pre-Christmas show.

Second: Is it "Merry Christmas" or "Happy holidays"? My answer is both. The truth of the matter is that while Christmas may be the most widely celebrated holiday in this country, it's not the only one. So I generally tell people "Happy holidays" through most of December because there's a whole season of days to celebrate. But then right before December 25th I switch to "Merry Christmas." My rationale for this is that, even if someone doesn't celebrate Christmas, you can still wish them well for the day. Like wishing a happy Fourth of July to someone in Canada or England. Personally, if someone were to wish me a happy Hanukkah I wouldn't be insulted.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Monica, my boss agrees with you...he's jewish and celebrates the Jewish holidays, but still prefers to be wished a Merry Christmas, because that's what the season is known for, while his brother gets very offended if someone wishes him a Merry Christmas...but as for me, I think Happy Holidays is just NOT good enough. You can't have Christmas without Christ...that's the WHOLE point, the Reason for the Season, as they say. So I use Merry Christmas whereever I can...and use Happy Holidays only when I absolutely HAVE to...and if anyone gets offended...that's their problem, not mine...too darn much Political Correctness going around in this world, dontcha know, heh heh heh...