Every year more “Happy Holiday” signs are found in shopping malls and hanging throughout small towns, and every year there seems to be fewer and fewer “Merry Christmas” signs.
I understand that the common practice amongst store-owners is to be politically correct about things because they don’t want to be sued. Due to the fact that the term “Merry Christmas” is directly associated with Christ, telling someone who is not a Christian to have a Merry Christmas could be taken as being offensive.
Considering that ours is a litigation-happy society where just about anyone will try to file a lawsuit against someone for some ridiculous reason, it is obvious that these stores are trying to cover themselves.
But this is why I am confused. When you walk into a store, especially around this time of year, one of the first things you will see are the abundance of Christmas trees. You walk around the store and see Christmas decorations such as stockings, ornaments and Nativity scenes, and depending on what store you are in, Christmas cookies too.
If a store can proudly sell and make a huge profit on each one of these items with the Christmas label on them, then why can they not tell their customers to, “have a Merry Christmas”?
Is it fair to be politically correct to customers who are not Christian, but at the same time use a Christian label on products in order to make a profit? I don’t think so. If the real issue here was being politically correct all the time in order to please customers, then each one of those items should have the word “Christmas” replaced with the word “Holiday.”
It is pretty safe to say that the people who decorate their homes for Christmas are not using a Holiday tree, Holiday stockings or Holiday ornaments, and they most certainly are not using a Holiday Nativity scene. I am also willing to say not many people give out Holiday cookies to their friends and families. The stores that do sell cookies for the holiday season, (such as Walgreens) market them as Christmas Cookies, not Holiday Cookies.
I work at a flower shop back home and we decorate it for Christmas. About four or five Christmas trees are displayed, we play Christmas music all the time and all of our merchandise is associated with Christmas. We write “Have a Merry Christmas” on the sign in front of the shop and all of the employees there make sure to wish everyone of our customers a Merry Christmas.
I say enough with being politically correct about this. If you are going to display a Christmas tree in your store and make a profit off of it, then you better be wishing your customers a Merry Christmas. It is complete hypocrisy to do one and not the other.
The way I see it, go ahead and try and stop me from being politically incorrect on this one. At least I can say I told you to have a Merry Christmas.
Adaelle Stobie 
Miss Information 
Katherine Thomas