Merry Christmas to one and all!

Tis the season to be jolly and all~

 

I’d recently discovered – while doing a christmas class in school – that in America (and perhaps other parts of the world) you’re not meant to say Merry Christmas because not everyone is christian, and ought to be using “Happy Holidays” instead.

it’s a ludicrous idea, but to my horror and dismay, there was actually a letter in the forum section the other day urging singapore to adopt this too.

well excuse me but that seems more like being insensitive and intolerant instead! it’s like me taking offence at “Selamat Hari Raya” decorating the streets come that season just because I’m not muslim. like huh?

what offends me way more is the assumption that EVERYONE in the world celebrates christmas just because it has become a universally recognised holiday and many places put up lights and get into a festive mood and all.

i’m tired of foreigners in Japan expressing disbelief that it’s a workday in Japan, that they cant find eggnog or candy cane or this and that thing essential to christmas in their home country, that it’s more a lover’s holiday than a family holiday or something along the lines that the Japanese have gotten the whole idea of christmas wrong.

give them a break. christmas doesnt mean anything to them, and i dont see why it should.

everyone was so caught up in the christmas season and “spirit” before i left that i started feeling rather uncomfortable, as i felt like i should be more into the mood than i actually was.

there then came a point when i just got annoyed that i was made to feel that way, when christmas to me is nothing more than a time of bright pretty lights along orchard road and an excuse to eat lots of yummy stuff and an opportunity to meet up with friends and my mum’s side of the family – to eat.

dont get me wrong, i do get a little excited about christmas, but nothing like how i look forward to Chinese New Year and all the stuff associated with it. Chinese New Year is THE most important holiday in my calendar as a Singaporean-Chinese person, and i think more people should realise that Christmas isnt the most important thing to everyone and stop being holier-than-thou about the whole thing.

 

there. an angsty christmas post and Merry Christmas again! haha.