My Warmest Wishes to You
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Every year it seems to get harder and harder to say the right thing.
Is it okay to say Merry Christmas?
Is it better to say Season’s Greetings or Happy Holidays?
Or is it presumptuous to assume that someone is celebrating a holiday at all?
Yet not saying anything doesn’t feel right either.
So let me just say this:
Whatever you have planned for the remaining days of 2022, I hope they’ll be filled with good things, and that 2023 will be even better!
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Janet Barclay
I eliminate stress for my clients by hosting, monitoring, and maintaining their WordPress sites so they don’t have to worry about security, downtime or performance issues. When I’m away from my desk, I enjoy reading, photography, cooking, watching movies, drinking tea, and spending time with my family.
Thank you for your Happy Holiday wishes, Janet! I wish you and your family the same. Regarding the greeting, Happy Holidays feels the most inclusive to me. But I gratefully accept all types of holiday wishes because I know they come from a positive, hopeful place. Have a wonderful, well-deserved break.
I look forward to seeing you when you return. Here’s to a terrific 2022 wrap-up and an outstanding 2023!
It’s all about attitude, isn’t it?
I hope your holidays are wonderful and appreciate your support throughout the year. {Hugs}
We have become more aware of all the many holidays that take place at this season, and I think it is unrealistic to think we will be able to identify which holiday everyone is celebrating. I love the “heart” of your message, and receive it with joy!
I am sending warm thoughts to you and yours, and may your moments be filled with your favorite things.
Thank you, Seana – same to you!
I think “Merry Christmas” is fine if you know you are talking to someone who celebrates it! But I tend to limit “Merry Christmas” to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because there are so many other holidays during the SEASON. Even Christians who claim to feel persecuted when others say “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings” (and even if they truly don’t care about other cultures and religions, who, um, also celebrate winter holidays) usually celebrate Thanksgiving and the New Year. Holidays, plural (some religious, some secular). And if you do care about other cultures and religions, the more there is to celebrate! A whole season within which to greet others! I love, and have always used, both age-old greetings — Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings — and I feel like the “persecuted” Christians have stolen the joy from me personally by arguing about it. But if you wish me a Merry or Happy ANYTHING in a joyful manner, at any time, I am grateful! And…I’m wishing you a Happy New Year, Janet!
Thanks for your insightful comment, Hazel! I belong to a chorus called Women of Song, and in addition to secular and sacred Christmas music, our “holiday concert” included Hanukkah! and we opened with a South African song (Siyahamba) to commemorate Kwanzaa. It was so fun!
My initial thought was that saying “Happy Holidays” includes everyone this time of year: people who observe Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Pancha Ganapati, Bodhi Day, and probably many others. But your point is apt, inclusion should consider the people who do not celebrate any holidays; for example, it’s my understanding that Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t “celebrate” Christmas. And of course, there are so many people of all faiths (and none) who do not feel the warm embrace of the holiday season>
I believe that one-to-one, we should offer greetings appropriate to that individual if we know — like wishing someone “Happy birthday” on their own birthday and not on ours. But if we don’t know, or if we are speaking to many at once, I suspect anything well-intentioned will be accepted in kind: Happy Holidays, Season’s Sreetings, Happy New Year, and my mom’s standby, “May you be in good health!” So to you, Janet, I wish you joy for all that you celebrate, and may you be in good health!
I agree with you so much, but one thing I’ve noticed is that even people who celebrate Christmas, and are likely aware that I do as well, will say “happy holidays” as if they’re afraid to use the more customary greeting.
Health and happiness to all!
Thank you for the warm wishes. Happy holidays and joyful New Year to you and yours!