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Ordinarily, I’m a “Happy Holidays” person. More than one tradition has a holiday that falls late in the year, so I tend to stick to the generic wishes of joy unless I specifically know which holiday the person I am addressing celebrates, so that the intended sentiment doesn’t get lost in conflicting cultural baggage.

But now it’s December 20th, which means we are less than a week from Christmas, which I celebrate as a religious holiday. So I’ll probably be using “Merry Christmas” more often for the next couple of weeks. So I’m going to just throw it out there that I hope my non-Christmas-celebrating peeps will accept that greeting in the spirit in which it is intended, which is: 

“I wish you joy and peace during this season which is sacred to me.”

And is not:

“I hegemonically expect you to observe my cultural and religious traditions, regardless of how well they fit with your own.”

Deal?