Dear Editor,
Re: “Is it ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Merry Christmas’ Reporters go head-to-head” News Dec. 23, 24.
Let’s review December holidays from oldest to newest:
Winter Solstice
Hanukkah
Yule
Christ’s Mass (a specifically Roman Catholic rite)
Christmas (the general holiday)
Christmas Eve
New Year’s Eve
Boxing Day
Looks like holidays (plural) to me, even for the religiously minded. Lighten up, all.
I’m Jewish, and UT if someone sincerely (not as a challenge) wishes me “merry Christmas,” I hear “may your celebrations be as filled with joy as I wish mine to be.”
So, I respond, with equal good wishes. “And to you and your family, too.”
For the religious: Jesus himself celebrated Hanukkah (it’s in the Gospels.)
For the non-religious: Do you expect strangers to greet you on your birthday (another event eclipsed by the general public’s agreed-upon dates for public greetings)?
Go peace or go home!
George Pope
Richmond
