Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays

A lot of people try to be "politically correct", during the holiday season. I grew up Lutheran (Christian). I love to decorate for Christmas. My husband and daughter are Christians. (Yes my three year old daughter is Christian. She has already chosen that faith over the others that she has experienced. I am okay with her decision.) I am not Christian, anymore. I do not believe that anyone is wrong for their beliefs, no matter what they are. It is our beliefs in life who makes us who we are. I know from the studies I have done (over the years) that many religions are based on one true god. (Generally, it really is the same God with different names...But no one wants to believe this.) I have no problem with telling someone Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah (Hanukkah) or Happy Winter Solstice...Or what ever their personal beliefs are. I have recently discovered that my great-grandparents (Gruber) were Jewish and converted to Catholic. I had a great-great-grandmother that was Haitian. I have Cherokee & Choctaw in my family history. I have Austrian, Irish (which is the easiest to see in me), Romanian (Gypsy), German, Scottish, and I am still researching. The Irish side were Celtic and Celtic Christians. I am researching different religions to see what I am most drawn to. I tell people "Happy Holidays", not to be politically correct, but because I do not have a chosen religion. I tell people "Merry Christmas", because it is their belief or because they said it first. I do respect everyone for who they are. I was raised that you open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, so as to not take away from the true meaning of Christmas. I still follow that tradition, out of respect for my parents and those that do believe in Christ as their savior. Even though it is not my chosen religion, I believe that it is wrong to take away from the true meaning of the holiday (holy day). I do have to admit that there is just one present from Santa for Elisabeta. She is only three and everyone has her believing that Santa will bring her something if she is good. They have also told her that he brings presents Christmas Eve night. Yes, she understands that means that if she is good there will be a present for her Christmas morning from Santa Claus. She explained that to me. (She is only three years old.) So, she has one present for Christmas morning. I am thinking of asking Kelly's parents if they would like to take Elisabeta to church with them on Christmas. Elisabeta carries around a Daily Devotional. This is "Ellie's book" and she tries to read it. She will read off certain letters, that she knows. She says that "Ellie's book" makes her feel good and happy. So she carries it. She likes to attend church with Kelly's parents. I love Kelly, Elisabeta, Mom (Louise), Monica (my bio-logical mother), Trevor (my older brother), Daniel (my younger brother by the same dad), James (my younger brother), Tim (my youngest brother), Sandy (Kelly's mom), Mike (Kelly's father), and everyone else in our families and our friends.
Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! Happy Holidays!
I love you all!
Natalie

ps. On Monica's, Daniel's, Mike's, and Natalie's you have to click on each of the letters for all of the links. I was going by what was the first thing I thought of (each person) for the links. Some people are just too complex for a single first thought.