Here’s an excerpt of something I wrote in my blog last year, about the political correctness of wishing people a Merry Christmas.

While our society has become increasingly multicultural, there is also much more focus on being politically correct. One of the biggest debates here in Hamilton is whether the lights at the side of the Mountain should say MERRY CHRISTMAS or HAPPY HOLIDAYS. On the years when it says MERRY CHRISTMAS, some non-Christian residents will complain that they are being excluded. Yet when it says HAPPY HOLIDAYS, some Christians will complain that the Christmas message is being diluted and/or secularized. In a way, since we do claim to be a nation who embraces diversity, yet with roots in Christianity, they are both correct, so what is the solution? Then when you factor in the question of whether or not it’s appropriate for businesses to use the holiday season to stay in touch with their clients, it gets even more complicated!

(Feel free to go back and read the whole post, Merry Christmas! (no offense intended).)

To supplement that thought, I’d like to share some quotes I’ve read recently on this same subject. First from Colwyn Beynon, a columnist for the Hamilton Mountain News:

I recently asked a Lebanese friend of mine how he felt about “Merry Christmas” and he exclaimed laughingly, “Do you think people in my land would drop the name Ramadan because the Christians were slighted?” On parting he bade me a cheery “Merry Christmas and a “Happy New Year.”

Next, from Ben Stein, as recited on CBS Sunday Morning:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I’ll be hosting and attending various Christmas get-togethers on the 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th, so this will be my last blog post until next week. Whatever you are celebrating this week, or even if it’s just another week for you, I hope you stay healthy and get to enjoy time with the people you care about.