While it is never my intention to offend someone...I generally do say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays. At work I try to be careful though!

I'm Jewish, and this is so not an issue to me, and I think, excluding some extreme cases of people being ultra PC and going way too far with trying to be "inclusive," is a media made "conflict." In the States, if someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I respond with "Merry Christmas." I'm not offended by someone's well wishes, even if it's for a holiday that's not mine. I lived in Jerusalem for a year and was wished merry Christmas by the non-Jewish minority, and it was still not an issue. I went to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and went to a church for the first time on Christmas after spending the day in the Old City to observe the Christian celebrations, just to see what it was like. It was interesting for me, and I didn't burst into flames!

Also, if someone says, "happy holidays," I respond in kind. It is so not important to me. I think if everyone just chilled out and stopped trying to remove every label, lump everything together (guess what? Chanukah is not the Jewish Christmas just because it falls around the same time of year!), and not offend anyone, including people who should toughen the hell up and accept that we don't live in a colorless, religionless, genderless, nationless world, but are actually all unique individuals and our differences are not a bad thing that we need to eradicate, but something that we should embrace about one another and learn to accept, then we'd all be a lot happier.

Political correctness is a plague, is false "cultural sensitivity," and I honestly believe that people who are so strict about being PC, just need something to get on a soap box about, something to make themselves feel superior, something to be on a self-righteous crusade about. I don't need you to tell me "Happy Chanukah." I just want you to treat me with human decency and respect, and when the cashier at the mall in December wishes me a merry Christmas as I leave the store, I feel like I'm getting that treatment, because the sentiment is not intended to be hurtful or to exclude me...it's intended as a nice gesture, and people's intentions are what is important to me.

Although i completely understand the side of many other religions I wouldnt expect a jewish person to refrain from sayin...Happy Honicka (yes I know its probably not spelt like that... sorry!)

If somone said happy hanukkah (hehe i just googled the spelling!) to me I would be flattered that they thought me someone they respect enough to.. wish me greetings in this way. I wouldnt say "Oi im christian, im offended you said that"
In believing that i want to be treated as I treat others, i would also hope that if i said Merry Christmas to a non christian person they would feel the same way and return greeting in which ever way they feel fit!

I'm not offended by the word but I use Holidays because I know a lot of Jewish people and people who don't celebrate Christmas. I like how holiday includes the New Year as well.

I feel everyone's good with what they think/feel about the holiday no matter what its purpose or standing in their certain religion, however..

Today, Christmas is a very general term to describe all holiday cheer surrounding the holiday for most people. They don't sell Kwanza candy in big bags in Walmart, just Christmas candy. It's holiday themed everything versus just being about one thing, I believe. That, is because of commercialism and consumerism. I don't think it serves one meaning anymore. "Merry Christmas!" is kind of what people say even weeks before Christmas arrives. It's kind of like how Happy Halloween is said weeks before Halloween, even though there's a celebration after called Hallow's End or Day of the Dead or other holidays from other cultures in the same week of Halloween or following it.

Christmas got its name from Christ's birthday, no doubt, and the holiday was formed for the celebration of that given reason. BUT Christmas is also a variation of Yule and because Christmas borrowed all these aspects of Yule, I feel "Happy Holidays" is just as good as anything else. I don't think it's PC to say either one, because Christ wasn't born on Christmas at all and there are other holidays around the time of Christmas, but at the end of the day, Christmas = Christ's birthday celebration and it shouldn't offend many to hear it. It's just what it is.

I think it is not offensive.

Doesn't bother me, since I respect the ideas behind it (both pagan and Christian)

I am not Christian and I have no problems with the word Christmas

I say Merry Christmas on the day of! And say other holidays on their day of. Happy Holidays is good for every holiday!

i say christmas, just because its what i grew up with. most of my family is religious but my parents and i are not

I am Christian, and don't care if you tell me "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays," as long as you do it with honest well wishes behind it and NOT out of some false sense of cultural sensitivity. I've actually seen people change their language not so that they include include everyone, but to purposefully exclude Christians. Nope, I'm not exaggerating.

For example, a relative of mine is constantly posting on Facebook about how stupid Christians are, and how their religion is worthless, so on and so forth. However, that same person is very fast to send well wishes to his friends for the holidays of every other religion. If this particular person told me "Happy Holidays," I would know it to be a backhanded insult (because it would be). In general, though, I'm not offended by either statement.

Spirit of inclusion? Fine. Trying to be inclusive by being exclusive? Not OK. Say what you are going to say, but mean it.

Not at all

I don't really care, however I would like to point out that Christmas is actually not entirely from Christian origin. Nowhere is there record of Jesus' birth, and it's unlikely that anyone could have lived outside during late December in Bethlehem. The date was chosen based on a Pagan holiday. In fact, celebrating Christmas used to be banned by Puritans, who are considered the most strict and pure Christians to have ever lived in America, and were in fact some of the first people to settle in New England.

i am not Christian. my involvement in christmas celebrations of friends and family are minimal. however i am not offended by it, i am flattered when i get invites.

i do get annoyed by people assuming i am christian, but that annoyance is not specific to christmas.

i think that even the people who take offense are not offended by the word itself, it's the assumption behind it.

it's also a habit of mine left of from my days in corporate america...it was a big no-no to say merry christmas.

happy holidays, merry christmas, happy hanukka , blessed Yule, etc etc.

but really....Bah-humbug

Nope doesn't bother me either way. I use both words

To each their own.