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We wish you a wonderful winter

On Dec. 25, Christians around the world will celebrate Christmas. On that same date, indigenous members of Peru celebrate Takankuy. Many people see Dec. 25 as just another day.
On Dec. 25, if a Christian tells me “Merry Christmas,” it will make sense. What doesn’t make sense is requiring that the rest of the population recognize a holiday they don’t celebrate during the entire month of December.
Many people are convinced that Christmas is being attacked in America. They think that because Starbucks changed their cup design or some people say “Happy Holidays,” their holiday is under siege.
Starbucks, with their red holiday cup, has angered many of its customers. It’s not as if they made a blue cup – which could represent Hanukah or the snow that comes with winter – but they used a red cup. Paired with their green logo; the colors of Christmas are displayed. Somehow, this isn’t enough because the cups don’t display the words “Merry Christmas.”
“Happy Holidays” isn’t enough either. From Nov. 1 to Jan. 15, there are 29 holidays celebrated by seven of the world’s major religions. It’s ignorant to think that Christmas, though it may be the most widely celebrated, is the only one that matters.
Remember when people justified that “all lives matter” appropriately represented black lives? It’s ironic that the same group of people can’t seem to see “Happy Holidays” representing Christmas.
What other holiday gets recognized beyond the day it’s celebrated? You don’t wish people a happy birthday two weeks before the actual date, so why must I say “Merry Christmas” in early December?
Apparently, it’s also waging a war on Christmas to say “Xmas.” Xmas is a commonly used abbreviation for Christmas that actually has Christian-based roots. For the guy in the back yelling “blasphemy,” allow me to present a history lesson.
The alphabetic letter X comes from the Greek letter “chi.” The Greek word “Χριστός”, which translates to “Christ” in English, contains “chi” as the first letter. The abbreviation of Xmas dates back to the 16th century, but that’s not enough for some people because we have to keep “Christ” in Christmas. Spoiler alert: Xmas does mean Christmas.
In my family, we celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. We celebrate New Year’s on Jan. 1. We celebrate Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. However, not every family is like mine.
Some families celebrate Hanukah. Some celebrate Kwanza. Some don’t celebrate any holidays at all, opting to celebrate the winter season instead.
There’s no harm in wishing someone a happy holiday season or season’s greetings. There is harm, however, in rejecting someone’s genuine attempt at a polite gesture because they celebrate a different holiday than you do.
If people are Christian, wish them a Merry Christmas. If they are Jewish, Happy Hanukah will suffice. If they aren’t religious, Season’s Greetings is just as well. Instead of nit-picking people’s words, we should just accept the warm wishes and go on enjoying our break.
There’s enough going wrong in the world without waging wars over words. Let’s accept people regardless of their greeting preference.

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