Holiday Trend

A couple years ago, I was talking to my mom about Christmas cards. You see, each year, there's this big dilemma. I have made a commitment since I started sending my own Christmas cards that I would not buy ones that use the word joy. It simply doesn't sound right to wish people yourself at Christmas time. Or, "may this season be filled with me." This year I caved. Actually, I caved about two years ago when I bought the cards that I'm sending this year. Perhaps I have a better self-image now...I think I'm something everyone should have... You see? This is why I never do this. It sounds terribly conceited.

Back to my mom...she was saying something about not buying cards that say Happy Holidays because that drives my dad crazy. At the time, I thought this was way over the top - she was asking me to avoid cards that contain joy and holiday? Do they make blank Christmas cards?!?

Now, I have to say that I'm starting to see my dad's point. It's not that Happy Holidays is bad. It's the thought that it's replacing Merry Christmas. Have you noticed this lately? Check out commercials, radio, invitations and cards this year:

It's the holiday sale.
You're invited to a holiday party.
Need great holiday recipes?
Are you finished with your holiday shopping?
What's your decorating theme this holiday?
Kohls: Fits your Life. Budget. Holiday.

Somewhere, Christmas dropped off the list of politically correct. Holiday is the new inclusive word of the 21st Century. If you're celebrating Hannukah, Kwanza or Festivus this year, heaven forbid we should leave you out. Have we so lost sight of absolute truth that we can no longer bring ourselves to say that Christmas is Christmas?!?

Don't get me wrong. I like the word holiday as much as the next person. If I'm not going to see someone again between December 15th and January 5th, I'm the first in line to wish them a Happy Holiday. It's fun to say and it's understood that I'm grouping together greetings for Christmas and New Year's. The problem is, our language is starting to reflect what we as a culture view Christmas to be - a vacation from school, a couple of days off work and a chance to get together with family to eat and open lots of presents.

In fact, according to Webster's Dictionary, holiday is "a day on which one is exempt from work; specifically: a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event."

I think people rush to that second definition of holiday. Do you know what number one is? "A Holy Day."

I'll leave you with a wish: may this season be filled with a sense of holiness as you reflect on Christ's birth.
Merry Christmas!