I went walking on Christmas Day and crossed paths with others doing the same. Unprompted, most wished me a “Merry Christmas.” Some simply said “hi” or gave me a nod. Only a few said nothing at all.
None wished me “Happy Holidays.” And there were no Kwanzaa carols in the air.
Yes indeed, “Merry Christmas” survived the invention of both “Happy Holidays” (a misguided attempt to avoid offending Jews by greeting them with a wish for merriment when they were not merrily profiting from the writing of most of our modern Christmas carols) and Kwanzaa, a late-20th century invention that was something like DEI for religious holidays to pander to people who think Christ is a dead white European who preached that camels could pass through the eye of a needle easier than poor Black people could get to heaven.
Christmas also survived the climate-change lobby. It survived the Gaia worshippers.
It survived the nihilistic, faithless Millennials (and has been embraced by their successors, the faith-seeking Gen Z), it survived the Godless Democrats, it survived the proselytizing atheists.
It survived 9/11, it survived October 7.
It survived the faith-mockers, it survived “Pope” Francis, it survived the Episcopalians, it survived yard signs of the self-devout self-proclaiming their virtue.
And not only did Christmas survive us, we survived it.
We survived electronic Christmas cards. We survived ghosts of fruitcakes from Christmases past (they never go bad, you know, or at least they never go worse). We survived aluminum Christmas trees, we survived plastic Christmas trees, and we survived dead Christmas trees.
We survived LED candles, we survived the mall.
We survived the still-unfilled promise of joy to the world and we survived Joy to the World. We survived a noisy night and we survived Silent Night. We survived Come All Ye Faithful and we survived Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
We survived We Three Kings even amid the chants of “no kings!”
We survived the cancelation of Baby it’s Cold Outside.
Speaking of which, your correspondent became a grandfather a couple of weeks ago, which is not to be confused with a grand father or even a mediocre father.
I came through it all fine, and I’m mostly happy and healthy, thank you for asking.
But it’s not all just about me, there are also other people involved. They’re happy and healthy as well.
I have a feeling that the silent nights in their home will be few and far between in the upcoming few months, but I’m starting to understand joy to the world. You see, it happens one little world at a time.
Now, if I can just get through New Years Eve unscathed . . . Isn’t that when they do the mistletoe thing?
the Aspen beat 
We survived ghosts of fruitcakes from Christmases past (they never go bad, you know, or at least they never go worse).
Thank you for that one.
But did we survive a ten inch base? I think not.
Watch for my upcoming piece, “Skiing Ruined Colorado.”
What has not survived is reasoning.
Your antisemitic comment, the lynchpin of a logically and morally bankrupt worldview. Linking the inclusive ‘Happy Holidays’ to a Jewish conspiracy of ‘profiteering.’ This is not a novel idea.
You are simply repackaging of the medieval ‘greedy Jew’ canard, which painted Jews as parasitic usurers. You’re swapping finance for pop music, which shows your historical illiteracy matched only by your readiness to deploy ancient baseless hatreds.
Theologically incoherent too. Deploying antisemitism in defense ofChristmas, a holiday celebrating the birth of a Jew to a Jewish mother, severing the faith from its own roots.
Replacing the Incarnation’s message of universal goodwill with a crude tribalism, where a greeting is a cultural weapon, and not a sign of peace.
This is the ultimate rejection of shared dignity. Projecting is one of ‘othering,’ reducing 15 million of individuals to a greedy stereotype to fortify an ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
An act of division that betrays the spirit of the very holiday that you purport to defend, revealing a defense of a fragile, exclusionary identity, and not of Christian faith.
Your barbaric islamist readers must be ecstatic now.
You utterly misunderstood me. It was an attempt at humor in pointing out that in my experience Jewish people take no offense at a greeting of “Merry Christmas.”
If you’ll read my work over the years, you’ll see that I’m a stout defender of Israel and a great admirer of both the Jewish faith and the Jewish people.
I only intended to draw a chuckle at the Jewish ability to make a buck – something I admire, just as I admire the skill of many Black people to play basketball and the guile of my own Scottish ancestors to pinch a penny. Lighten up. Glenn
whoa! Do you look for things to offend you?
Another piece, nicely done, Glenn. Congratulations on your new grandfather role. That’s the most important thought in here! I am sure you’ll be a great one.
PS I went walking in NYC Central Park Christmas Day. And nobody said a word. (Afraid what might happen if they did?)
Again, nice work!
Merry Christmas to all and congratulations on the grandchild, mine are the lights of my life 💞
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Being a grandpa is HIGHLY recommended. All benefits, minimal responsibilities.