Catlady; never censor yourself..you are then in essence denying who you are and how you feel,go for it..be nice wish nice things to people and if they dont accept as Vince says its their problem not yours..on another thread LordsLady said she would says prayers for me and hoped my spirit would meet hers, i'm an aethist but it came across so nice and unthreatening it was a nice gesture and welcomed even by a heathen such as myself.

Here's something on Diwali.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/diwali/index.shtml

The children often do a project on Diwali, here, at the right time of year and Diwali lights go up in certain parts of the city. They precede the Christmas lights.

Thank you Ladybird and Vince. I will remember your words next Christmastime!

These forums amaze me. There is lots of good debate and exchange of ideas and passionate discussion. And there is also lots of goodwil and healing from one spirit to another. Dare I call it love?

Catlady..you can call it love with pleasure...love after all is about respect and i think thats what most of us try to do MOST of the time..

oh - and i forgot to add - one of the few times I went against my better judgement and I said Merry Christmas to somebody - they said back to me, "I don't celebrate Christmas" (and not in a nice way). And that baffles me too - its like Vince said - Good tidings are good tidings. I had Jewish friends who would wish each other a Merry Christmas. Its not like by wishing you a Merry day that you have to profess loyalty to that religion. There is a spiritual Christmas and a secular Christmas. I personally prefer to say happy holidays because it feels less presumptous to me when I don't know somebody - but for heaven's sakes I would not feel offended if somebody said Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to me. Its just trying to be cheerful.

thanks PDM. Didn't know.

It never bothered me in the least, I understood their cordial greeting as being meaningful to them and accepted it graciously!

From Ladybird

***Catlady..you can call it love with pleasure...love after all is about respect and i think thats what most of us try to do MOST of the time..***

Yes, I think so too! It's wonderful when that happens!

Victor:
Maybe that's a new greeting: Good Tidings!!! You make a good point about the secular Christmas and the spiritual Christmas. It is sad that people turn away a cheerful greeting, but you never know people's experiences around the holiday from a passing meeting.

My Moslem friend & I wish each other Merry Christmas.

I think the reason people might get upset about 'Happy Holidays' is because people get irritated by political correctness and that may be how it is interpreted.

We don't tend to say it over here (UK) and if anyone does try to 'replace' 'Merry Christmas' with an alternative greeting, that sounds 'PC', people do get annoyed.

Since 'Season's Greetings' has always been around, that doesn't seem to offend.

Last year, I sent a Jewish friend a cookbook to celebrate Chrismakkuh or Hannumas -- she is Jewish, her husband Christian. She's fine with celebrating Christmas, but was feeling a little lost in her community without much support for the Jewish holidays. I wish I could find the website again for the cookbook, ornaments, decorations, greeting cards -- it was a great way to blend the two holidays and traditions. And the recipes were good too!

PDM... I think the whole PC thing has gotten WAY out of hand here in the U.S., to tell the truth.