Holiday or Christmas?

I have gotten tired of trying to be so PC....America home of the offended.....give me a break......

Its x-mass to some, its Christmas to others, and nothing to some....oh sorry did I offend can I just list three examples or do I have to Google every religion and type in there holiday names also.......I am who I am and if anyone including clients don't like it then we would probably not work well together anyway.....

I usually skip the holidays all together and send out HUDs and other trinkets for the new year......

Todd Hueffed

I don't send out "Christmas" cards to clients. I send out "New Yeas" cards.  I however, will be saying Merry Christmas to whoever. I do not hide that I celebrate Christmas just like I wouldn't expect my clients to hide they celebrate something else. If I lost a client because I celebrate Christmas - well that is a client I wouldn't want anyway.

Joe, You do bring up a good point. I celebrate Christmas, and I want folks to know that. I'll let them wish me a Merry Christmas first tho so I don't offend someone accidently. X-Mas used to offend me until I looked up the meaning, and did a post on it last year.

Joe

I think its ok to call it Christmas, I don't think anybody really cares. Our country is so great everybody gets to share in everybody's culture. Just show an interest and your in.

There's really no "perfect" answer here, because many people are so sick of political correctness compromising their celebrations that they actually get offended by using "holiday". 

I find the best way to deal with this is to try to find out which holiday your clients celebrate, and wish them a happy (whatever it is).  For those who celebrate Christmas, they appreciate you not taking the steam out of their holiday by getting all PC.  For those who celebrate other holidays, they appreciate that you took the time to find out what they celebrate and honor them individually rather than with a generic phrase that in our culture basically means Merry-Christmas-but-I-don't-want-to-offend-you. 

What I find is that people who celebrate holidays other than Christmas don't really appreciate having their holiday lumped in with Christmas and basically celebrated LIKE Christmas, as if just changing the name makes it any less Christmassy.  In fact, I have close friends who have complained about the "Christmassification" of their holidays, basically saying that lumping everything together has robbed their holiday of its significance.  I tend to think many who celebrate Christmas feel the same way.

Diversity cannot be achieved through homogenization.  Only through recognizing, celebrating, and appreciating each event/culture/celebration on its own and for what it is, can we achieve true diversity.

On a personal level, though I celebrate Christmas, I am honored when someone wishes me Happy Hanukkah - and it's usually people who know I celebrate Christmas.  Why should I be offended that they want me to have a great day on the date of their holiday?  I am honored to be included in their celebration.

I only use "Happy Holidays" if I don't know what they celebrate, know they don't celebrate Christmas but their holiday is already past, or to refer to the entire holiday season encompassing everything from Thanksgiving preparations through the Rose Bowl.

If recognizing each individual holiday is not possible or too stressful/risky for you.  Then you are definitely better off going with "Happy New Year" and skipping the "holidays" entirely.  That way you avoid offending anybody.  But if you want people to feel like you really care about them individually, then recognizing  THEIR holidays is the way to go.

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