Are you offended if someone says Merry Christmas

Nope, I say Merry Christmas and love someone saying it to me.

I totally agree.  I always say "Merry Christmas" and really appreciate it when someone says it back to me.

In case anyone is interested, this website has a list of "Christmas-friendly" retailers:  http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000008670.cfm

I am not at all offended by "Merry Christmas" .  But coming from corporate America for many years and now working for Immigration Attorneys - in order to be "politically correct"  we use HAPPY HOLIDAYS in conversation or in our cards-   and I do believe that is ok, many of our clients celebrate different holidays this time of year,   It would be the same as someone saying Happy Hanukkah to me,  just respectful I think, 

But if I am speaking with someone I know very well I always say Merry Christmas or what ever fits their specif holiday.

The word "holiday" is derived from "holy day", so, for anyone celebrating a religious "holy day" or "holy days" at this time of year, "Happy Holidays" is a very appropriate greeting!

However, I'm sure Christians would prefer Merry Christmas, just as Jews prefer Happy Hannukah, etc., so I try to be most respectful of their beliefs, and greet them accordingly.

Cheers!

Linda

i'm a "merry christmas" gal

I don't think anyone is offended by someone saying Merry Christmas -- if anything, implying that those of us who don't celebrate Christmas would be offended is a bit, well, annoying.  We aren't so prickly.  Having said that, I always appreciate Happy Holidays because it includes me and it is usually what I say if I don't know a person's religion.  Its not abut political correctness, its just a way to extend respect. 

I live in Toronto, which is one of the most multicultural cities in the world.

I don't have a car and so take taxis quite often (especially around xmas) and most of the taxi drivers are muslim. Strangely, what I've found is that they feel offended if you don't say Merry Christmas to them because they feel excluded from the general season. I think a lot of people see it as a society-wide holiday and a time to bond and express good wishes towards others etc.

Who would have guessed that about the taxi drivers? Things are so complex! 

Merry Christmas!  I get irritated by "happy holidays"  if it werent for people celebrating Jesus birth no one would even be having this holiday season!  I certainly dont see how it can be offensive to offer someone a cheery Christmas greeting.  I am not offended to hear "Happy Hanukkah" or Or "Kwanzaa" or other religious holiday so if saying "Merry Christmas" offends someone it is only because they dont want to be held accountable.

I live in a country where most of the population is Jewish. We say Happy Chanukah to the Jews but to those around us who do not celebrate Chanukah, we just don't say it. But..when they have their holidays we greet them with the appropriate greeting for that holiday. Only makes sense. Well..to me, at any rate.

 However, I grew up in the States and was wished a Merry Christmas in stores and so on and never gave it much thought...

Some ladies' church group in my area started selling buttons and car magnets a couple of years ago that say, "It's OK to say Merry Christmas to me." Now that doesn't offend me; it makes me mad that we have to tell someone it's OK to offer us good wishes of any kind. Whether I personally celebrate the holiday or not, it's the season, the holiday is happening, and everyone should be able to experience the peripheral good will and joy that comes from Christmas, Channukah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's without feeling offended.

I am really a Merry Christmas person, but I think before I say it...

and consider who it is I am greeting...

Amen!!!

But Kwanzaa does have a spiritual/religious element as Imani - the seventh day of Kwanzaa - is dedicated to celebrating and honoring your faith (which is what Imani translates to) - be that faith Islam, Shinto, Budism, Christian, Wiccan or whatever. Please don't paint it with such a broad "non-religious holiday" brush...

"Happy Holidays" to me is more than just being politically correct. I think it's ridiculous to assume everyone celebrates the same holiday - or even just one (we celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa), hence the "Happy Holidays!" greeting...

Sounds like I offended you, Felicia, I didn't mean to.  It's been explained to me as a non-religious holiday.  I am glad that you get to celebrate both.  My gf's boyfriend won't celebrate Christmas but makes sure "they" celebrate kwanzaa, he said because it was not religious.

I did see History.com's definition of Kwanzaa: Kwanzaa is a non-religious African American holiday which celebrates family, community, and culture. It is celebrated for seven days: December 26 - January 1.  The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili. The kinara is the center of the Kwanzaa setting and represents the original stalk from which we came: our ancestry.

and then Wikipedia shows what you are talking about ..and how there are 7 celebratory days:

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called "The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa", or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba - "The Seven Principles of Blackness"), which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy" consisting of what Karenga called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." These seven principles comprise Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

Umoja (Unity) To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Sounds like there is different info out there ...  I guess like Christmas, some think it religious and now some just see it as a day off and a day to share gifts.  But if one goes back to the true roots then you can see what it originally meant, I guess Kwanzaa is like that:  religious for some and not for others?