I send everyone holiday cards and write a message that is appropriate for what they celebrate inside.
I absolutely would not send our Jewish friends Christmas cards, and it is ridiculously easy to find cards that say things like "happy holidays" "season's greetings" or "peace love joy."
About a quarter of our holiday card list is Jewish. I order cards that say something more inclusive than Merry Christmas, but beyond that I don't worry about it. I am fairly certain that getting a red holiday card does not offend my Jewish friends. I am certainly not offended if they send me a blue card (and most of them do send me photo holiday cards). I think excluding friends from my card list because they are Jewish would offend them a lot more than receiving a card that says Happy Holidays and has some holly in the corner.
I have, however, had a couple Christians on our card list express offense that we use Happy Holidays, thereby taking the Christ out of Christmas and requiring Kirk Cameron to swoop in and save things. Whatever.
Post by imimahoney on Dec 12, 2014 18:42:00 GMT -5
As a Jew I find photo Christmas cards perfectly fine. I know not everyone is Jewish, not a big deal at all. Now if it wasn't a photo card I would totally side eye them for not buying a less Christmasy one.
I send everyone holiday cards and write a message that is appropriate for what they celebrate inside.
I absolutely would not send our Jewish friends Christmas cards, and it is ridiculously easy to find cards that say things like "happy holidays" "season's greetings" or "peace love joy."
We did photo cards. And they say Season's Greeting's/Peace/Joy/Love/Etc on them... however they are red with tons of snowflakes and say "merry & bright". So I think it is implied christmas because of the color scheme and snowflakes, wdyt? I'm happy to buy a hanukah card but I think photo cards are a bit more nice.
I think that's neutral enough. If you write a message, throw in a happy Hanukkah!
About a quarter of our holiday card list is Jewish. I order cards that say something more inclusive than Merry Christmas, but beyond that I don't worry about it. I am fairly certain that getting a red holiday card does not offend my Jewish friends. I am certainly not offended if they send me a blue card (and most of them do send me photo holiday cards). I think excluding friends from my card list because they are Jewish would offend them a lot more than receiving a card that says Happy Holidays and has some holly in the corner.
I have, however, had a couple Christians on our card list express offense that we use Happy Holidays, thereby taking the Christ out of Christmas and requiring Kirk Cameron to swoop in and save things. Whatever.
This! I will echo everyone else- I would rather receive your Merry Christmas photo card than no card or a different card without a photo. If you're using non-photo cards I would be a little miffed to receive an overly religious card if there were other options.
We have 2 cards this year. One is a Hanukkah card that I sent to my family members and our Hanukkah celebrating friends, the other is a more Christmas themed "Happy Holidays" card to go to DH's family members and our Christmas celebrating friends. It was super easy to make two cards.
Post by UnderProtest on Dec 12, 2014 19:21:22 GMT -5
We send our normal card and just write Happy Holidays on it instead of Merry Christmas. I'm pretty sure their card this year had a picture of their kid with Santa (or Santa related something).
As a Jew I find photo Christmas cards perfectly fine. I know not everyone is Jewish, not a big deal at all. Now if it wasn't a photo card I would totally side eye them for not buying a less Christmasy one.
Same here. I realize people buy the photo cards in bulk to show off their families and I'd rather get one than not (I love them!) But if you're sending out individual cards, then they should be tailored.
Post by mollybrown on Dec 12, 2014 20:09:43 GMT -5
I send them a card. We never do cards that are specific to Christmas, mainly for this reason. My closest Jewish friend usually reciprocates with either a happy holidays or New Years card with pictures of her children. She's pretty breezy, though. They always come to our Christmas party and don't have any issues taking home ornaments or whatever Christmas themed favor. I'd never give them something with Jesus on it, but they're cool with winter, snowman, Santa, etc.
Like others, this is why I get "happy holidays" or "seasons greetings" type cards. Not because I hate Christmas. our Jewish/atheist couple friends display their cards every year, so I assume they like getting them!
This year my Christmas cards are MMA pop up with a nativity scene below the Christmas tree, so I got some Hanukkah cards to send Jewish friends.
Question: I saw it spelled Chanukah on a Jewish Community Center sign yesterday. Is the spelling interchangeable? Would someone very religious who keeps kosher prefer one spelling over the other? jackie011
Yep, it's a transliteration. There's no "wrong way" to spell it. One of the most common ways is "Hanukkah" but there are many widely accepted spellings.
We send cards to everyone. Some years it says Merry Christmas, sometimes happy holidays. Just depends on what design I like! The Jewish friends we have aren't offended by that and just like getting cards.
My H has Jewish family and we have a few Jewish friends so we never get cards that say "Merry Christmas". Last year they said "Be Merry" and this year "Happy Holidays".
To add my own thoughts - first, DH is Jewish, I am not. So our cards have always been more neutral too. And this year, I'm doing New Years cards (photo cards).
Past that - I feel like the cards represent the sender and MOST people aren't going to take offense to someone sending out cards that represent who they are. But I do agree- if you're sending CHRISTMAS cards, make a point to acknowledge what they celebrate in what you write to them.
To me, if you're going to make the effort to send out cards and show people that you're thinking of them, I really hope it's the THOUGHT that counts, even if you can't be specific to every persons religion on your list.
If anyone were offended by something I sent them, I'd take into consideration why they're offended. To be honest - the mention earlier of people who are offended by "happy holiday" cards, I'd roll my eyes at that and either just send what I always send or take them off my card list.