Thanks, Claire, for a very thoughtful and well-reasoned response. I come
from a Christian background, but I have no problem wishing someone whose
religion I don't know "Happy Holidays", since that also includes New Years
Day, as well as Channukah. It's easy for me to save Merry Christmas for
people I actually know. One of my teachers was Jewish, but raised in a
non-religious way. She dragged home a bedraggled Christmas tree one year, as
a child. Her mother, a Russian immigrant, had a fit when she saw it. Her
memory of childhood Christmases in Russia in a time of pogroms, was that if
men in the countryside had too much "Christmas vodka cheer", they'd grab a
gun and go out looking for hapless Jews who might be unfortunate enough to
be out on the streets at that hour. So it was a day and a season of visceral
terror for many Jews living in shtetels throughout Eastern Europe.
"Claire Petersky"
First off, there's at least two holidays in our culture going on under the
one name of Christmas. There's a winter festival that is symbolized by
evergreens, holly, and mistletoe; by our culture's embodiment of
generosity in Santa Claus, and related presents; and by wintertime snow
and sleighs. There's also a Christian holy day, celebrating the birth of
Christ, which, for various historic propagandistic reasons, occurs on the
same day.
Christmas, as winter festival, and to a lesser extent, Christian holy day,
is a pervasive holiday in our culture.