Yes, I generally (not always, but mostly) wish people “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas” this time of year. Below is a reproduction of an article I wrote for the National Post blog, to explain why.
I’m a Christian and I love Christmas. That’s why each December I greet shop clerks, tradespeople, dentists, and everyone else I happen to meet with “Happy Holidays” and not “Merry Christmas.”
Since I have no idea in a multicultural Canada what someone’s religious or philosophical outlook would be, I can’t wish them a “Merry Christmas” any more than I could wish everyone I meet a “Happy Hanukkah.”
Yes, Christmas is a statutory holiday for every Canadian, but that practice is a holdover from Canada’s receding Christian heritage. And even if Canada were the churchgoing nation it once was, it still wouldn’t be proper to wish a Buddhist a merry Christmas. Since “holiday” now equals both “holy day” and “vacation,” saying “Happy Holidays” covers every contingency.
Alas, “generic goodness” is what Christmas has become for most Canadians. We're now a nation largely of Christians and sort-of-Christians and occasional Christians and ex-Christians and anti-Christians. Christmas thus has metamorphosed into whatever anyone wants it to be. “It’s all about family,” some say, while others coo over “the miracle of a baby’s birth.” Christmas means love and generosity and just being a little nicer to people. The vaunted “Christmas spirit” is whatever we happen to value as the highest and best in human nature.
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Christmas as a Christian Holy Day
Christmas is about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob becoming a human baby at a particular time and place. This baby was not merely a symbol: He was to be the Saviour, the one and only Saviour needed by his people, Israel, and indeed by the rest of the world. The angels, shepherds, and wise men came to adore this unique infant King, not merely smile and nod at each other about yet another cute kid.
Christmas is therefore a Christian holy day that, when understood properly in its Biblical context, offers indeed a great commemorative feast in stark contrast to the spun sugar of the Santa Claus myth. But it’s not a feast to everyone’s taste and certainly not everyone will be partaking of it this year. So let’s not talk as if everyone will.
Wishing everyone indiscriminately a “Merry Christmas” is not, furthermore, honoring Christ. If Christians really want to “put Christ back into Christmas,” then we mustn’t spray “Merry Christmases” around town as if they were so many candies being flung from a Santa Claus Parade float. Save “Merry Christmas” for people who actually do focus on Christ, and wish everyone else a happy holiday, whatever it might be.
That would be the Canadian thing to do — and, as it turns out, the Christian thing to do, as well.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
