Merry Christmas! That's Right. I Will Always Say It.

I wouldn't call myself a great Christian. I grew up in the church yes. I had a Christian family and sure I believe in God. My faith though is personal and because I respect every single person's right to believe what they want I'm not going to sit here and preach one thing to you. Nor do I really think I need to. I have lived long enough that I realize people will pretty much believe what they want. I also realize we do tend to believe what we are taught. I am not arguing faith or Christianity or whatever your belief might be. However I am arguing that I have a right to say Merry Christmas to whomever I want.

As a child it was just Christmas. I never thought of it as having the word Christ in it. I loved the whole season and the joy it brought. It was about happiness and togetherness. I remember it. I can still smell it. I loved it. I still do.

I just read something that said Best Buy does not allow it's employees to wish people a Merry Christmas. They have to say Happy Holidays or something. This is wrong. Why? What happened to our freedom of religion? You can say whatever you want to me. I will respect your holiday and might even like to learn more about it. I am not Jewish but I am absolutely interested in those traditions and beliefs. I am not offended at Hanukkah songs, or ads. I am not offended by Kwanzaa or other beliefs. Why are people so offended when I say Merry Christmas? Why do they want to be rid of it? I am saddened. It's special to me and I feel like slowly the right to your religious beliefs are being stripped away. It's not even so much about the religion aspect to me. It's about tradition and what you just DO. Why should someone be able to say you can't do that? I wouldn't work somewhere that tried to do that to me and I don't believe constitutionally they have a leg to stand on but maybe I am wrong.

I have definitely had my ups and downs in the past few years faith wise. You have to understand I grew up in a very religious family that struck the fear of the pits of hell into you from day one. I know it forward and backward. However I am all grown up now and I deal with my faith privately and I don't take everything that is preached from the pulpit as law anymore. I find out for myself what I believe rather than what I am force fed. I do believe there are things that you just do not mess with and that is someones right to celebrate a religious holiday. This is for everyone! This is not just for Christians but for all faiths. We have a right to celebrate how we want. I truly believe this and I am so sick of everyone being offended at every single thing.