Christmas under siege?

Every time I read a news story about people thinking Christmas is becoming increasingly threatened by 'secular forces' (and this is where I have an image of an army wearing baclava helmets marching upon a Christmas tree), I just want to scream, "GET A GRIP PEOPLE. HAVE YOU BEEN IN CIVILIZATION LATELY?" The stores are swatched in red and gold, and easy listening music stations go to 24/7 Christmas carols, depriving some of us from our daily Lionel Ritchie fix. From Halloween on, you cannot escape this holiday, no matter how much you want to.

I admit, despite enjoying hot apple cider, finding the perfect gift for someone and receiving Christmas cards, sometimes I really want to. Christmas isn't under siege, but it's taking a good chunk of the population hostage -- even the ones who celebrate.

The thing is, there is nothing inherently offensive in Christmas to non-Christians. Or at least, the non-Christians that I know. Most of us have no problem wishing Christians who celebrate 'Merry Christmas' because it's important to that person. And we're not particularly offended if someone wishes it to us back if they don't know where we stand on the holiday. But there is a distinction I do want to point out.

I don't go around wishing non-Hindus Happy Diwali. Most people would say, "Huh?" anyway, but that's not the point, because nothing's stopping me from saying it. It's easy to say, "Well, no one knows when that holiday is, so who cares?" Well, it's a major holiday, celebrated by a huge chunk of the world's population. You can say the same about Ramadan, or Channukah. These are holidays that are important to people, but most Muslims aren't going to wish Happy Ramadan to non-Muslims and Jews will keep their Happy Channukahs to other Jews. What's the point of wishing a 'Happy insert-holiday-of-your-choice-here' to people who don't celebrate?

The Fainter put it best yesterday. She says it's like being at a birthday party, and being genuinely happy for the person at the party, and wishing them a happy birthday. But if someone else came up to you and even though they knew who the guest of honor was, said, "Hey, happy birthday" to you, that'd be kind of weird.

That's how Christmas feels. It's there, you can't get away from it for three months of the year, so you might as well go with the flow, whether you want to or not. My point is, if you know for sure someone doesn't celebrate, why wish them a 'Merry Christmas'? Only do that if you're willing to have them wish you a 'Happy Diwali' back. My guess is most people who complain over whether a tree should be a "Holiday spruce" or a "Christmas tree" wouldn't be particularly happy to be wished a "Happy insert-non-Christian-holiday."