Yuletide greetings

Merry Christmas!

Oh, wait...

I mean Happy Holidays!

Or... ummm... well...

Yeah, yeah, yeah... the much discussed "War on Christmas" is still in full swing in America this year.

What a joke.

I thought we were Americans. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. With acceptance and tolerance for all.

Instead we seem to be Land of the Greed, Home of the Naive. With whining and self-absorption for all.

Let me enlighten everyone, please... We have been saying Merry Christmas *AND* Happy Holidays for a hundred years. Where's the fire up everyone's derriere coming from now?

During my lifetime, the phrase Merry Christmas has had just as much secular meaning as religious - actually, probably more secular. Yes, there is the religious version where Merry Christmas is said between believers to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

But even more is the Merry Christmas that means joy, hope, giving and good will - celebrated with a Jolly Old Elf whose job is to put a twinkle of wonderment in a child's heart. That's as religious as chocolate bunny eggs. Christmas can be a universal term for all, if we'd just get over ourselves and our new inbred need to appear to the world as sniveling spoiled brats.

And what's with the Happy Holidays bashing? The word "Christmas" has always referred to one single day (and is afterall a widely celebrated holiday). Happy Holidays was always said, and meant, to mean the season surrounding the Christmas holiday. It's no more or less a religious statement than Christmas is. But it's also all-encompassing and can mean a generic wish of joy for any other religious holiday taking place during this season.

I don't believe Happy Holidays was ever meant to be completely secular. It covers a wide range of potential greetings - both secular and religious.

So get over it America... have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!

And then go find some real world tragedy to whine about.