So in the spirit of the coming holiday, as well as the emotional exhaustion I’ve brought onto myself by writing about this year’s wonderful election, I believe it’s time to talk about everyone’s favorite time of the year. Columbus Day! No. I’m just kidding, no one cares about Columbus Day. Except when you need to deposit a check to the bank and find out they’re closed; then you care about Columbus Day, granted it’s probably not in a positive sense, but still. You care. No, I want to talk about our favorite holiday, Christmas!

Christmas is such a magical time of year; it’s the one time we get to wear red and green tacky grandma sweaters and not be looked down on by the public. It’s the one time of year where we get to have Christmas themed underwear, office supplies, and coffee cups; and might I say, the Starbucks coffee cup is looking good. It’s the one time of year we get to listen to remixes and covers of old Christmas songs while we’re driving to work. With all of the wonderful things that Christmas has to offer, there are some rather negative traditions. For example, the traditional untangling of Christmas lights from the box in the moldy attic. The traditional annoying Christmas carolers that stop by your door every night, forcing you to pause your episode of Scandal to answer the door. In addition we cannot forget the traditional friendly “debate” over what our seasonal wish should be. “Happy holidays” or “Merry Christmas?” I will be frank, I think it’s a silly and trite topic to get worked up over. I don’t understand the outrage over what phrase should be used. Of course this is probably because I don’t “understand” it, seeing as I don’t celebrate Christmas. However seeing as I don’t celebrate Christmas I might be able to give a valuable point of view with constructive criticism.

As someone who does not celebrate Christmas, whenever someone wishes me with “happy holidays” or “merry Christmas” I take a flexible approach. If I am wished “merry Christmas” I respond with “merry Christmas,” and If I am wished “happy holidays” I respond with “happy holidays.” It doesn’t matter to me what phrase I use, so I use what the other might be more comfortable with. Therefore, I believe we need to take a more flexible stance on this topic. It’s not right for people to have a serious discussion on whether they should use one or the other. There are more pressing issues to devote time and attention to, and seeing as our new future president is completely unfit for the job we will need to partition our attention to more important issues. So I have a suggestion: from now on, we should use whatever the other person is more comfortable with. It’s not worth starting a debate about the “war on Christmas.” They’re just sayings anyway, it’s not like Christians will force everyone to convert if you say “merry Christmas” likewise, it’s highly unlikely that secularists will abolish the first amendment if you use “happy holidays.” So why worry?

I’m hoping this Christmas isn’t as laden with petty “wars,” stories and reports about the death of “Christmas.” The way I see it: if people are still listening to covers of Santa Baby then, trust me, Christmas is not dead.