This is driving me crazy and this is one place I can get this off my chest.
Why do some people wish you a "Merry Christmas".... when they don't know you and don't know what you celebrate? Isn't a Happy Holidays sufficient and a little more respectful?
When I am around friends that I KNOW celebrate Christmas I wish them a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. If I don't know your belief's, a good ole jolly "Happy Holidays" will do the trick.
This particularly bothered me when I called a major electric company that is a client of mine and the operator answered the phone, "Merry Christmas". Of course my response was...."Well sir, what someone doesn't celebrate Christmas?" and I just sat there in shock as I listened to him fumble his words and trasnfer me to my client. They don't answer the phone, "Happy Halloween, Happy Easter or Happy Passover". Wouldn't a Happy Holiday's be sufficient?
There are a myriad of holidays afterall that the world is celebrating in the next 30 days, correct?
Ok, just making sure my pregnant brain isnt getting to me any more than it already has.
I agree you should wish someone what THEY are into, not what YOU are into. I totally understand how you would feel. I will say that pregnancy has made me "irked" at things that wouldn't normally bother me so much. I was really rude to a door to door salesman last night because our neighborhood has a no soliciting policy and I'm sick of people trying to sell me stuff!
ReplyDeleteHi Renee! I stumbled across your blog recently, and it's been fun to sort of catch up with you! First of all -- congratulations on your pregnancy!! That's so exciting!! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd the other reason I decided to comment on this particular post -- I had just read it, and then I came across this entry in another blog I follow, which I thought you would appreciate:
http://failblog.org/2008/12/20/hanukkah-fail/
Thanks for the reminder about holiday sensitivity. As a Christian, sometimes I feel like Christmas as celebrated here in the US has become so divorced from the true religious meaning of the holiday, so I can forget that wishing someone a merry Christmas can still be offensive. I'll remember to do better this year!
Sorry for the crazy long comment! Hope you're doing well!
--Christina (Sim) Keddie