When did “Happy Holidays” come into common use and who in hell started it? It is getting to the point where it seems that people are embarrassed to say “Merry Christmas”. Why is this? I never miss an opportunity to to make my poistion known every time I come across an ad, etc., when the term “Happy Holidays” is used as a greeting. Christmas is celebrated because of the birth of a very special baby. If it was not for this birth there would be nothing for Christians to celebrate in December and “Happy Holidays” would not have been coined.

Not sure when Happy Holidays came into use, but I believe that Bing Crosby first sang the Happy Holidays song in the 1942 movie, Holiday Inn.

I used Happy holidays here because I am not aware of my audience’s leanings when it comes to this time of the season.

If I were to meet you on the Street you would get a Hearty Merry Christmas. But since This was a Posting read by thousands of people, I thought it was only Polite to use the Term Happy Holidays as well as Merry Christmas.

My Use of the Phrase was not out of Fear of being Politically Correct but in a sense of being Polite to my Readers.

Where as Christmas is indeed the clebration of the Birth of Christ, there is also the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah that was started in 165 B.C. This year, the Celebration of Lights, Hanukkah, started on December 12th and Ended on December 19th. Last year it began on December 21st.

So maybe the term Happy Holidays was coined to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. But the True Origin of the Term is not known to me.