Comments on: Five things people say about Christmas that drive me nuts

By: Debbie’s calm in September, very calm | A Place Of Calm

Debbie’s calm in September, very calm | A Place Of Calm — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:50:09 +0000

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By: Deanna

Deanna — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:29:13 +0000

I think your final 3 points are good ones. But the first two, I would object to.

First of all, I know many non-Christian who do not consider Christmas to be a Christian holiday. Some of my Jewish friends celebrate it. My atheist grandparents celebrate it. For you to suggest that everyone other than Christians feel "it's not my holiday" says to me that you're the one with the narrow frame of reference.

Second, you may like working on Christmas because it's a nice time to do uninterrupted work because so few are working, but that's the exact reason why it's a problem. If so many people aren't working, phone calls can't be made. Questions to vendors, etc. won't be answered. It might work in some fields, but I work in finance, and there is a lot that cannot be done when the majority of businesses are not open.

By: Holly

Holly — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:05:11 +0000

Hi Penelope. In Minneapolis and I'm sure many, many other places, I sense that Christians do make an effort to not offend non-Christians. We get that saying "Merry Christmas" can be offensive and honestly, we are not trying to offend you, so we hold back. It's "Happy Holidays" or nothing at all. I get the feeling like there is so much dislike for Christians. What is my crime? There are more of us and December 25th is a paid day off? (strange complaint coming from you.. surely you can still write blogs from home?)

The problem with floating vacation days is that people are so guilt ridden about getting all their work done that many people don't take their vacation days. So if you give them floating holidays too I guarantee you will have a bunch more people coming in and working on Christmas instead of taking their holiday time. I'm not saying working on Christmas is bad, I'm just saying work/life balance is important and December 25 is one of the few days that lots of families spend time together. Having the designated day off "gives us permission" to actually take a freaken break from work.

By: Mark P.

Mark P. — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:16:32 +0000

Whereas the first amendment doesn't expressly spell out that there must be a "separation" of church and state, the separation of church and state were spoken of often by many of the founding fathers. It was decided very early on in this country's history that you couldn't have freedom OF religion without having a certain amount of freedom FROM religion. Separation of church and state is a very long standing legal precedent that is a very important part of our country's history. However, if you'd like to live in a country that doesn't separate religion from government, I'm sure they'd love to have you in Iran.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:20:26 +0000

This comment is, ahem, a little late, but… my company shuts down between roughly christmas and new year. Why? Because as you said yourself, there is little business going on. We call it the "Winter Holiday" to be PC about the whole thing, but the fact remains that pretty much everyone enjoys the time off and the company benefits by not having to keep the same level of operations going during a scheduled slow period.

By: mr luggage

mr luggage — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:46:13 +0000

i hate all religious holidays

By: ashley bergess

ashley bergess — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:02:28 +0000

looks like little miss penelope got some sh*tty gifts for Hanukkah.

By: mdingo98

mdingo98 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:11:20 +0000

.
maybe you can petition your company to work the day and bank it as a personal holiday.

i am an icu nurse and am forced to work many holidays of my personal religion in order to save the lives of people who are too geeked up about bullshit to live their lives in a more harmonious manner and so have pneumonias, strokes and mi's during the holiday season.

By: Jay Reeder

Jay Reeder — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:54:03 +0000

If America were the enlightened land of personal freedoms that it mythologizes itself as, Penelope's comments would be self-evident and uncontroversial.

Remember the old 64-color Crayola Crayon sets that included a light-pink crayon labeled "Flesh"? Christmas is the "Flesh-colored crayon" of Federal holidays.

By: The Niltiac Files » Blog Archive » The ‘true’ meaning of Christmas (it’s not what you think)

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:24:36 +0000

[...] and getting fired up by anti-Christmas spirit over on Penelope Trunk's blog. She did this last year and the year before too and I know I should totally be zen about it but I feel compelled to [...]