Yesterday, Don and I did some Christmas shopping. When at the store, the checker was telling the customer ahead of us “Merry Christmas” and then when on a tangent on how she will say Merry Christmas until the day she dies—she was quite emphatic and…well, it sounded more political than in the spirit of Christmas.

I’ve been noticing numerous memes on Facebook about how friends are “taking back” Christmas and will say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holiday or Season’s Greetings. Quite frankly, I didn’t realize someone had imposed a law against saying Merry Christmas, for which we are now revolting against.

When I used to send out Christmas cards (something that we don’t seem to do much these days) I typically chose cards that said “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” Not because I thought it was politically correct—in those days I don’t think politically correct was a thing. I chose those cards because I wanted the greeting to be inclusive to all the recipients on my Christmas card list, and some of those I sent cards to didn’t necessarily celebrate Christmas.

Does this mean I thought it wrong or rude of my friends to send out Merry Christmas cards? Absolutely not. I felt they had the right to extend their greeting their way, as I had the right to extend mine.

There is another meme going around which I particularly like this year. It basically says they won’t care what greeting you tell them—Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays or whatever—they will just be happy you took a moment to say something nice to them.

I don’t think the Christmas spirit is about extending a greeting in a combative, just-watch-me, take-this, manner. Christmas, to me, is about reaching out and showing the love. For me, it’s not the greeting that matters—it is the spirit in which the greeting is delivered.

Merry Christmas.