Merry Christmas

A traditional greeting that extends good wishes for the holiday celebrated on December 25th. In recent years, there has been some controversy regarding this phrase, with some people preferring the salutations "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings," which can be extended to people who celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday or to people who celebrate Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well.

Ways of wishing people Merry Christmas in languages other than English include:

Feliz Navidad (Spanish)
Joyeux Noel (French)
Frohliche Weihnachten (German)
Merii Kurisumasu (Japanese)

Last updated: December 23, 2004.