So I’ve been seeing and hearing an awful lot of noise about this “war on Christmas.” And I can’t help but shake my head in disappointment. There is NOT a war on Christmas. Let me repeat that, THERE IS NOT A WAR ON CHRISTMAS!

Advent Wreath

I get so irritated when I hear someone say “happy holidays’ and the person they say it to responds with something along the lines of ‘oh, you mean happy Christmas.” No, jerk. I mean happy holidays. If I meant happy Christmas I would have said that. You know why I didn’t say that? Probably because if I don’t know you, I don’t know which holiday you celebrate.

In case you have forgotten, Christmas is not the only holiday in December. Just because you don’t happen to celebrate any of the others doesn’t mean they don’t happen. And to insist that other people say happy Christmas is not only ignorant, but incredibly rude, intolerant and downright stupid.

Just because you celebrate Christmas doesn’t mean you get to force Christmas on everyone else. And that goes for the other holidays, as well. If you celebrate Hanukkah, that’s awesome. Kwanzaa? Fantastic! And for those of you who get annoyed and upset because you’re starting to see more and more Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stuff at the stores, why are you upset? Why can’t those holidays be just as over commercialized and their meanings just as lost, too? Are we really so selfish as a society that we’re also trying to control who’s holiday gets to be the most commercialized?

Menorah for Hanukkah

So, when I say Happy Holidays, I’m not saying it to wage war on Christmas. I’m saying because I don’t know which of the many and wonderful December holidays you celebrate. And if you were a polite human being you would respond with a simple, ‘thank you. And a Happy (insert your holiday here).” Since I’m a smart person, I’ll figure out you’re telling me which holiday to tell you to enjoy the next time we should meet.

Kinara for Kwanzaa

So, Happy Holidays, Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy Festivus to all of you. And if you don’t celebrate at all because you don’t believe in any of it, well then, Happy Solstice and Happy December.

Happy December

Happy Winter Solstice