What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> More and more people on TV shows and in advertising are 
saying "Happy
> holidays!" instead of Christmas. I could see that if Hanukkah
> coincided with Christmas as it did last year, but to me it seems 
like
> they really mean "Mwerry Christmas" but are afraid to say it. 
Holiday
> cards? Holiday trees? Surely, they mean Christmas cards and 
Christmas
> trees. (I'm waiting for "holiday carols," which will surely be next,
> except that Christmas carols seem to have been replaced by generic
> winter songs like "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland." And while
> it's still okay to mention Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-nosed
> Reindeer because "Christmas is for children," it's not okay to 
mention
> Jesus or angels, and even some Christians object to mentioning Mary
> even though the original Christmas story involves her rather 
prominently.

Geoff:
Is 25th December "Winter Day"? No, it's "Christmas Day". 
WoW! Here in the UK, the word Christmas is always used 
in official references to these holidays, except for a 
few PC councils who insist on their staff talking about 
"Winter Festival" or something equally bland. There does 
seem to be an agenda in some areas to undermine our 
Christian foundations. In my area, the school holidays 
in the Spring of 2008 are being divorced from the dates of 
Easter ostensibly because of its early date but that has 
never bothered officialdom in the past.

I agree that I would have no objection to being wished 
"Happy Hanukkah" by a Jewish friend. I always send a 
card at Christmas to a former teaching colleague who 
is a Hindu and he usually sends me a Christmas card 
in return!!

With reference to Mary, all Christians accept that 
she played a special role as the mother of Jesus, who 
was God in human form. However, some of us, including 
myself, do not accept that some of the teaching about her, 
especially by the Catholic church, including Marian 
worship and the Immaculate Conception, are not Biblical.

Carol:
> I'm not proselytizing, but I believe in *Christmas*, 
> complete with all the traditional trimmings, from 
> Handel's "Messiah" to a real Christmas tree (I can 
> live with needles on the carpet; I can't stand fake 
> trees).

Geoff:

Speaking as a Christian, I quite agree with you. 
Christmas carols, mince pies, turkey - bring them on.
:-) 

We went to an artificial tree a few years ago, when 
our real one had shed all its needles by Christmas Day!