Happy holidays

I liked to think that I was over the whole "happy holidays" and "winter break" things. If you want to call Christmas by another name in order to be more inclusive or whatever, that's fine. It takes nothing away from the Christian holiday I celebrate. But then I heard a manager at McDonald's today tell one of the front desk workers that corporate rules do not allow them to wish our customers a "Merry Christmas," only "happy holidays" even when the restaurant will be closed on Christmas day. I wanted to throw the plastic spatula at her head, followed in short order by the metal spatula and the rest of the grill tools. I guess I'm not over it.

It's one thing to be politically correct and recognize that not everyone has the same beliefs and holidays as you. It's another to be twit. Hanukkah ended over a week ago. Diwali celebrations ended early last month. Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan with Eid ul-Fitr in September.

Seriously, what are all the holidays we're wishing people happiness in beside Christmas at this point? "Happy holidays" isn't even about hedging your bets anymore, taking the middle path when not sure whether someone's a Christian or Jew or Muslim or Hindu or whatever. The States don't celebrate Boxing Day or Bank Holiday. No one celebrates Kwanzaa. Near as I can tell, all that's left is New Year's Eve and equating that with Christmas, in either its secular or Christian incarnations, is just silly.

Don't be a twit. Wishing someone "happy holidays" now is just lazy and shows that you really have no idea whatsoever regarding the faiths you're trying to be respectful of.