Happy, merry Christmas holidays

It's Christmas Day. The lines have been drawn in the sand. The peace of the season may be shattered.

Is it the Holy Land? Bethlehem under military siege?

No. Just local neighborhoods — as people wrangle over whether to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy holidays" to each other.

From where we stand, the answer looks obvious.

Say both.

"Merry Christmas" is a personal greeting — a way of wishing someone well, from the depth of one's heart. "Happy holidays" is more inclusive, an acknowledgement of all the winter religious days — from Ramadan to Hanukkah — that focus on renewal, rebirth and rediscovery.

On a personal note, we wish our readers a merry Christmas. For 2,000 years, Christianity has been a thread linking the brightest and darkest moments of humanity. In this "disposable era" when people discard philosophies, fashions, art and cultural touchstones without thinking, the fact Christmas has endured is — to us — more than amazing. It is miraculous. The world may seem to be getting torn to tatters, but Christmas remains a sturdy cord binding people and communities and calling them to their highest potential. As one popular carol says of Christmas, "It's Still the Greatest Story Ever Told."

But along with Christmas, other days come into high relief this time of year — days that signal many of the same hopes and offer an antidote for the same longings. We like what one of our letter writers, Kevin Harris of Eagle Mountain, had to say about that.

"As the winter solstice approaches," wrote Harris, "gloom and darkness seem inevitable . . . Light, warmth and happiness seem to have lost to the unrelenting night. And then something amazing happens . . . the event is not Christmas. It is the pushing back of the darkness — the conquering of the dark forces that threaten happiness."

Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday, celebrates the rededication of the temple at Jerusalem. It is a festival dedicated to the advent of the light and renewal. Kwanzaa celebrates the bright light of the African race. Ramadan is a time of fasting and finding refreshment.

And then Christmas.

"Christmas," wrote Washington Irving, "is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall and the genial flame of charity in the heart." It's not a date, warned Mary Ellen Chase, but a state of mind. And according to Burton Hillis, it is a time when the "best of all gifts around the Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family, all wrapped up in each other."

We at the Deseret Morning News, wish you and yours a merry Christmas. And we hope you find a joyous renewal of the light.