Holiday greetings don’t make sense. But harketh, A creative solution is just a few words away.
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Do you ever wonder about how to greet people at Christmas? Then this greeting guide is exactly what you need.
Choosing the right holiday greeting can be difficult because there are so many possible choices. In this guide to holiday greetings, you will laugh and you may even cry. But through it all, my hope is that you will have a Merry Season of Stressless Greetings.
Merry Christmas?
Christmas greetings are the source of stress and sleeplessness at the holidays. Do you ever stay up at night wondering how to greet people at Christmas? Well… I do and I am on medication for it.
“Merry Christmas” is the classic greeting and it is my go to choice. I realize that some people don’t like it and so I try to mix it up.
Let’s be honest. “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” seem weird. Why use a greeting that you could give to a person any time of the year?
“I hear you are going to the lake for a week in the summer? Happy holidays and seasons greetings.”
See, weird.
Season’s Greetings?
If you need proof, recently I drove by a sign that said “Season’s Greetings” and it struck me: Why do the seasons need to greet us?
“Your seasons greet you. Garlic, turmeric and chives send their best wishes for a nice holiday.”
When did we get to the place where spices need to wish us Merry Christmas? And what the heck do spices have to do with Christmas, anyways?
My cynical-conspiracy oriented mind wonders if this may be part of the war on Christmas, and Super Powered Seasonings are teeming up with the dark side.
Seasons Greetings doesn’t make sense. With all of the cold and snowy weather, the seasons are not greeting you, they are mocking you!
“Save your seasonings and save Christmas?” Hmm…
If you like using Seasons Greetings theme, then I will offer a more accurate alternative: “Spring and Summer give you the finger…” That one might be a little extreme and it is not for the little people, the elves or the Republicans, but at least it is honest.
Unexpected Kindness?
As you can probably see, I get excited about Christmasy stuff. I wrote another piece, 7 Reasons Why Christmas Should Still Matter to You. In the piece, I shared the following story.
The other day, I was the recipient of some Christmas joy. I went to the post office with a 29 pound package. In front of me was a senior lady with a one pounder. She took one look at me and insisted that I go ahead of her. My old-people-go-first guilt had a hard time accepting her offer. But I did anyway.
If there ever is a vote to change the name of the season, I choose The Season of Unexpected Kindness. For me, that pretty much sums up the historical story, our religious or non-religious meanings, and our various kindnesses. Unexpected Kindness is what Christmas should be about.
Merry Chrispiness?
Some don’t like the religious nature of the Christmas holiday. They may prefer a greeting like “Happy Religiously Named Holiday.” To me, that one seems about as weird as Seasons Greetings.
I still like the Merry Christmas, but if you prefer something else I may have a solution. I offer you Merry Chrispiness. It sounds similar to Merry Christmas, but offers some attractive features:
- Merry Chrispiness sends a warm wish during the cold season.
Merry Chrispiness reflects how for many people, walking in crispy snow can make you feel nostalgic and happy. And the greeting Merry Chrispiness reminds us of all of the non-religious, non-sectarian, non-offensive and inclusive holidays we have celebrated. The greeting celebrates Crispy Snow as our happy higher power… But please don’t confuse Crispy Snow with President Snow, who is a bad man.
- Merry Chrispiness is a reminder that the season is an excellent time to eat rice crispies.
Rice Crispy squares and their close cousin, puffed wheat squares, are holiday favorites. Merry Chrispiness is the celebration of eating our favorite treats.
So there you have it, this year, you have five choices for holiday greetings:
- The Classic Greeting: Merry Christmas
- The Conspiratory and Flavorful Greeting: Seasons Greetings
- The Graceful Greeting: Unexpected Kindness
- The Weird Greeting: Merry Non-Religious, flavor square season
- The New and Non-Religious Greeting: Merry Chrispiness
No matter which greeting you choose, we all know that that’s really what the holiday is about: Eating with people you love, kindness and crispy snow.
Keep it Real
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Photos by Martin Cox, Mark Mrwizard and smswaby.
D, That can be annoying to have someone get that upset. To me a simple “Ooops, sorry. How about ‘Happy xxx?”” (Whatever that may be). My main question would be to ask the person ‘what’s up?’ It could be a bad day, or a personal dislike of a particular greeting, or a values based reason . This way it makes more sense. If it is a stranger or someone we don’t see very often, saying the wrong thing is not really wrong. How can we know it is wrong we don’t know the person? If you hand with people who… Read more »
If somebody unloads on you for innocuously using the “wrong” holiday expression, they’re the one with the problem. It’s only slightly less ridiculous than berating someone for saying “good afternoon” at 6 PM.