A Merry Christmas for All (Stacey)
Tolerance, patience, inclusion, acceptance, and sensitivity are all words describing a similar concept—respect. Put another way, treat people how you want to be treated. With Christmas only a week away, the well wishing is here in full swing. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Have a happy new year. A holiday season and winter parties versus Christmas season and Christmas parties dispute seems to intensify a little each day. But does it really have to be that way?
Office Christmas Party
When a young adult still not done with school, I was fortunate to have a wonderfully respectful supervisor at work. We'll just call the supervisor O, if that's okay with you. After all, O is of that generation that didn't grow up sharing certain things online. Anyway, back to my story.
We were a small group within a larger entity. All of us in the small group, except O, were talking about having an office Christmas party. The only problem was O didn't subscribe to the Christian beliefs regarding Christmas. Should we have a Christmas party? Could we have a Christmas party? If we do, do we invite O? What about decorating? If it's during lunch break, can we have the party at work or do we go elsewhere? Can we call it a Christmas party? Finally, O came to our rescue.
If you want to decorate for Christmas, decorate. If you want to have an office Christmas party, have an office Christmas party. Just remember to invite me.
We decorated. We had our office Christmas party. To my surprise, O even gave us all a small gift with a Merry Christmas wish attached.
Just Go With It
I remember talking with O. O knew what O did and did not believe. O knew we weren't trying to convince O of anything. We just wanted to calmly celebrate something. Who doesn't want to be around happy people some times? Who doesn't want to help lift spirits for someone who's a little down? We all need a reason to celebrate something sometime. So I just go with it.
Whether someone wants to calmly celebrate a religious holiday, graduation, birthday, or other event, I try to remember to just go with it. After all, happiness is contagious.
Merry Christmas to All
If you find yourself unhappy, please remember, you don't have to be unhappy alone. You matter to us here at LAD.
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