A once in a lifetime event is occurring on Thanksgiving. Chanukah and Thanksgiving are overlapping. The next time that they will overlap again on November 28th will be in the year 79811!! Chanukah begins a week from tonight for 8 nights. It is a modest but beautiful celebration of miracles in the Jewish religion. It is not a big holiday but has gotten bigger and more materialistic over the years to compete or keep up with all that goes with Christmas.
Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly have made lots of noise about the assault on Christmas. Sarah Palin has a new book about it so the talk has gotten louder again. Well, it is that time of year for the discussion. Is it offensive to wish a non-Christian Merry Christmas? It's not an easy answer. Maybe offensive is too strong a word, but if you are wishing someone something for them or for yourself makes a difference. I distinctly remember getting Christmas cards that were quite religious and feeling nothing; odd. Particularly, when I was an adult business owner. It was a battle every year about what kind of "holiday" card to send out. Thirty years ago, most of the prettiest cards were also among the most religious, so we would have to put them back on the shelf. Things have changed an awful lot with the more politically correct "Happy Holiday" cards. There are far more choices.
So let me go back to why you are sending out cards? Why you are wishing someone a happy ______________? If you are doing it for yourself, then have at it. Don't care about the other and send religious cards or wish everyone a Merry Christmas. BUT if you are trying to reach out to others to truly wish them a happy ________ then wishing someone a Happy Holiday is the way to go. It's not about you, is it? Look, if I sent out Happy Chanukah cards to everyone it would be weird. Many receivers would feel nothing, feel offended, think, huh?
So war on Christmas? I don't think so. Look around you. Everywhere you look it's Christmas decorations. Christmas sales. Christmas trees. There is a shelf or two for Chanukah because I live in New York City. There are no shelves in the Manhattan store for any other religions. No Kwanzaa. No Diwali. No place for Atheists. In America, if you aren't Christian, you are reminded of it everyday, but particularly from November to January. Hopefully wishing everyone a generic Happy Holiday becomes a more inclusive salutation. So, again, war on Christmas? I think and hope that we are becoming more sensitive to all our differences and honoring them.
Sidebars: The Good Wife was a better episode, though the random blonde woman that keeps showing up for sex with Will at the office and while he's on the phone at home is so aggravating. Unprofessional to the core and unnecessary to the storyline. Dancing With the Stars is getting down to the finals. What is curious is that Bill Engvall keeps getting saved by the Southern voters. All these other better dancers have been going home week after week. He's still there. The show will definitely have a problem if he wins. He's a nice man, trying really hard, but pales in comparison to Amber Riley, Jack Osborne, and Corbin Bleu. (side-side bar: They said that Corbin Bleu was accepted to Stanford pre-med at the same time he was cast in High School musical. Wow!). The Voice is down to the top 8. It's getting harder and harder and I can actually say that anyone can win. I have my favorite, but it's been a very talented season. Amazing how many great singers there are in America. How many is too many? Tonight, Law and Order: SVU and Nashville. Enjoy!
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