Winter holidays?

There has been a tendency at the college where I teach to speak of the winter holidays rather than of the Christmas holidays. I can only assume that this is not to upset the secularists as a large proportion of the Moslems I teach wish me a Happy Christmas! If they wished me a happy eid it certainly wouldn't upset me.



There are even happy winter holiday cards:

It reminds me of the story Paul Marshall told (I can't find the original source for this and have forgotten the details): three people were arguing over which game to play - one wanted to do nothing, one wanted football and the other hockey. They agreed they couldn't agree and so played nothing. But in doing nothing they were actually doing something - what the first person wanted.



The term winter holidays also reminds me of what Tumnus tells Lucy of the White Witch:

"It's she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!