Do you say ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?’
Fred Roener, 52, Oxford
“I say Happy Holidays because I’m an engineering manager and I’ve been trained to so I don’t offend anybody. I don’t have a problem with it. You hit everybody with one shot.”
Joe Thomas, 24, Windham
“I probably say Merry Christmas. I think more about Christmas that the other holidays. Maybe that’s what has been programmed in my head since I was a little boy. It’s Christmas time.”
Theodore Thoburn, 72, Standish
“I say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Christmas is about celebrating Christ’s birth. I believe the central part of the holiday season is Christmas.”
Beth Taylor, 45, Windham
“I say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Christmas is a national holiday. It’s a tradition of our country like Thanksgiving. This was a Christian nation and I guess it’s because we are a Christian nation that we are tolerant of other religions, as opposed to other countries that are not.”
Deborah Maxfield, 49, Raymond
“I work at the South Portland toll booth and common courtesy is to say Happy Holidays. But personally, for me, it depends on where we are in the holiday season. If we are close to Christmas, I say Merry Christmas.”
Joanne Donnellan, 47, Baldwin
“The whole reason for the celebrating this time of year is because of Christmas. So why wouldn’t you say Merry Christmas to someone?
Amy Parker, 27, Windham
“I would say Merry Christmas. But I don’t come in contact with a lot of strangers, mostly just family and friends, and I say Merry Christmas to them. I don’t know anybody who celebrates Hannukah or Kwanzaa.”
Leigh Sullivan, 37, Gray
“I say Happy Holidays because it doesn’t specifically target one religious preference over another. It’s far less invasive than Merry Christmas. There are people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds and to say Merry Christmas would make them feel uncomfortable.”
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