Why are your polls so Christmas-centered? There is a large Jewish population in town, not to mention all the other non-Christian religions, some of which observe holidays at this time of year. Would it change up the poll if you asked what gadget one received during "the holidays"? Or what holiday song drove you round the bend? Or what one's favorite holiday song is? I'm not one who minds at all when folks wish me Merry Christmas, as they are well-meaning and kind, but your polls smack of exclusion, and I for one am disappointed in the Patch on this count.

Arlington is 90+% Christian. Christmas was just celebrated. Asking people what they got for Christmas is a valid question. Non-Christians are not being excluded, the poll offers the choice of 'none'. BTW, holiday is the contraction of 'holy day', another religious greeting, intentionally excluding the atheists among us. Lol.

To exclude Christmas May not offend some Non Christian But it is offensive to Many Christians we also have rights the question coulld be phrased what gadget did you recieve for Christmas or Holiday Season? Or What Christmas or Holiday Song drove you over the edge. It gets rather annoying for people who are non christian to feel offended if Christmas is mentioned. To exclude Christmas during the Holiday season is in fact DE FACTO Bigotry toward christians. So I feel by putting Christmas and Holiday in teh same phrase should keep all happy even the PC crowd that bristle at Religion and Faith

Lily, hooray for you ! This "politically correct" nonsense has gone far enough !!

None. Couple of hardcover, turn the page with your hand, dog ear where you left off, books. No batteries, bells, cords, whistles, chargers or apps.

Sweet silence.

Tim

Oh for God's sake, spare me. The "Merry Chrtistmas" Nazis are on a rampage because someone acknowledged that there's more than one holiday in December. Some of you are obviously bored and should really try focus your energy on something that's actually meaningful.

I am beyond shocked that someone would casually use the word "Nazi" here, especially in a comment thread that references Dedham's Jewish population. That's why I flagged Roxxma's post as inappropriate. Apologies are in order.
Fred Civian

P.S. None; four non-virtual books.

Yikes. No apologies are in order. God forbid one ever watch the Seinfeld episode when they try to order soup. I liken some of these "War on Christmas" folks to the famous character from that episode (whose name I won't mention, as not to invoke surely incurable cases of the vapors among certain readers).

Yep, I know that f%^$%&* episode.(hey, they use that word on the Sopranos) . . . and if any a$#5&8& doesn't like it (what's your problem; they use that word on Jersey Shore) that's their g%$&%$$ problem (like they say on South Park.)

Context - where we use our words - matters. With respect, it's a slippery slope to start using TV sitcoms as a model for how we talk with each other in public. Others will use your "standards' to run right through to these other shows as rationale for whatever language they want to use . . . not that there's anything wrong with that :-)

I actually thought Roxxma's comment was kind of funny (and I'm Jewish) and I knew exactly the context in which they were using it. It reminded me of the time I wished an old lady (a stranger) to have a nice holiday and she replied with a sour face and huffed "what do you people have against Christmas? It's okay to say 'Merry Christmas' you know", before she stormed off. I don't think she knew my ethnicity, I think she was railing against some unseen "enemy" to spout her manufactured outrage, but all I could think of was the Soup Nazi.

How's about this. Gini if you want the polls to be more politically correct then why don't you contact the Patch about becoming a writer for them and can create polls that you think might be more appropriate to include everyone. This was a poll that Greg wrote and wanted to find out what people got for Christmas, so why attack him as to why he didn't include other holidays? There have been polls before that didn't pertain to me in the past that were in regards to the Harry Potter books and movies, and the Twilight series, I just ignored them and moved on. Why does EVERYONE need to be included in everything nowadays?

All my life it has been Merry Christmas, many movies come out with Christmas themes, commercials have Christmas themes, mall Santas, the majority of December has been Christmas themes. Why all of the sudden has this become a problem. I dont think other countries would like it if we went over there and tried change their customs for the past years. How would Israel feel if the Christians in that country did the same thing about Hunukkah. Seriously people grow up this isn't some attack on other religions Christmas is mostly for children to have fun and being with family. So who cares... and Merry Christmas... oh wait did I offend you cause I was trying to be nice.