This holiday season seems to have caught everyone unprepared. Maybe it’s because November 2013 was a month of five Saturdays, which meant Thanksgiving—celebrated on the last Thursday of November since 1941—fell on November 28. It was almost December before we celebrated our day of Thanksgiving.
And although stores across the country start putting out Christmas decorations even before Halloween, I think most of us stubbornly refuse to accept the idea that Christmas is near until after Thanksgiving.
Perhaps we’re not ready because Christmas day falls in the middle of the week, on Wednesday, December 25. I don’t know about other businesses, but for those of us at the Cook County News-Herald, celebrating any holiday on a Wednesday is a disaster. It means everything needs to be done earlier.
It means our wonderful Christmas issue, with pages of delightful greetings from our advertisers, will be on newsstands on December 21. Which reminds me, dear readers, if you want something published in that holiday issue, get it in to us soon!
For me, Christmas on Wednesday means more juggling of a schedule already filled to the brim with church programs, shopping, gift wrapping, baking and holiday gatherings. I will admit it’s making me a bit cranky. I’m trying hard to relax, to go with the flow, to remember to breathe and all that, but it isn’t easy.
My bad temper has manifested itself in irritation over the traditional seasonal greeting of “Happy Holidays.” In recent years, this benign phrase, this gentle greeting, has become a battle cry.
In 2005, The Catholic League noticed that sales associates were using “Happy Holidays” as a greeting at the registers at Walmart. The American Family Association noticed that stores like Lowes hardware and Target were advertising holiday trees and offering holiday gift ideas. Boycotts were launched, petitions were distributed, demanding that stores stop the attack on Christmas.
In turn, a number of stores issued statements acknowledging that they have begun using “Happy Holidays” as a way to recognize both Christian and Jewish holidays. A visit to the Internet myth-busting site “Truth or Fiction” reveals that the trend was evident as long ago as 1997 at major retailers such as Costco, Home Depot, Kmart and Sears.
But the seasonal “Happy Holidays” greeting was acceptable long before that. Records can be found of ads declaring “Happy Holidays” as long ago as the 1800s. I believe the phrase was probably first written by an early publisher who didn’t want to see the exact same copy in every ad on his or her pages. It’s probably why ads through the years declare Season’s Greetings, or Joyeaux Noel or Deck the Halls or Peace on Earth and of couse Merry Christmas.
So, if someone wishes you “Happy Holidays,” relax, go with the flow, and remember to breathe. It’s just a friendly greeting in this busy season. It’s nothing to get cranky about.
Christmas is not a time nor a
season, but a state of mind. To
cherish peace and goodwill,
to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of
Christmas.
– Calvin Coolidge
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