Merry Christmas...yeah, I said it: CHRISTMAS!

I absolutely love this time of year.  Christmas is my favorite holiday followed by Thanksgiving.  I love the festiveness, the unusual pleasantries which are exchanged by complete strangers in passing.  I love the excitement of innocent children as their giddiness increases as the days in December pass us by one by one.  I remember my youth and the excitement I felt in receiving the school calendar each year which read:  Christmas Break.  At some point while I was in school, this morphed into Winter Break.  So, what happened?  I would surmise that some myopic attorney felt the need to challenge the word Christmas in court, and in turn some hyper-sensitive asshat judge began what has become the wussification of America.  Oh, the outrage!  Actually having to read and hear the word Christmas!  Keep reading, it gets better...

Did you all catch this apology this past week?  Let me introduce you to Nina Totenberg.  This windbag actually apologized on air for saying the phrase "Christmas party."  If you did not click the hyperlink above, do yourself a favor and do so now.   Last time I checked, Christmas was a federal holiday in this nation.  However, this idiot actually felt compelled to apologize in case she offended anyone whose auditory senses were impacted and unaccustomed to hearing her uttering the highly controversial phrase "Christmas party."

Perhaps what she meant to say was the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011 but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee (source unknown).

The above has a simple translation:  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I realize not everyone celebrates Christmas in the same manner in which my family and I do.  This made me think, what if someone greeted me with Happy Hanukkah?  Happy Kwanzaa?  Happy Festivus?  Would I be offended?  Of course not.  I would simply respond with "Why, thank you."  After all, they would be wishing blessings upon me in a manner that they were accustomed to doing so.  Now, isn't that just damn offensive?