Christmas by any other name

A controversy rears its ugly head during this time of the year. It’s a seasonal thing and it’s to be expected. It isn’t about taxes. It isn’t about the president. It isn’t even about the Cowboys’ lousy season. We’ve come to expect all of those.

The controversy centers over what to write in Christmas cards.

Even the ladies on The View argued among themselves whether to write Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas. This, of course, was during a break from gossiping about Tiger Woods’ troubles off the golf course.

The premise of the argument is: do you wish a non-Christian a Merry Christmas? Should the sentiment mean something to the sender or the receiver?

I’ve heard people complain that we’ve gotten so politically correct that we’re afraid to wish someone a Merry Christmas. Since when has respecting someone’s religion or trying not to offend someone become associated with being politically correct? Maybe people are just trying to be seasonally correct.

If you know a friend is Jewish, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to send him or her a Hanukkah card than a Christmas card? If a friend is Jehovah’s Witness and doesn’t observe holidays, why in the world would you send a Christmas card?

Respect and tolerance are virtues worth teaching children, especially at this time of the year. My grandkids put on a show for me through Internet video chat.

They recreated the musical numbers they had performed at their church daycare center. My grandson, 3, sang "Be Careful Little Eyes What You See."

Then my granddaughter, 6, sang "Must Be Santa." At the daycare concert, she had also sung "Go Tell It On the Mountain," but she didn’t want to sing it to us.

Instead, she ended the Internet show with "My Dreidel."

I’m sure Jesus would have smiled.

Nora N. Garza is a County Extension Agent with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Hidalgo County, a part of the Texas A&M System. She can be reached at n-garza@tamu.edu.