Me too. ...and then I return the same greeting. And I'm Jewish.
We should make them [Jews] wear little yellow stars so we can tell...
The vast majority of Jews aren't in any way offended by "Merry Christmas" greetings. ...or anything Christmasy, for that matter. Best just to let the few who are be scroogebergs and don't worry about it.
Great to hear that the majority of Jews aren't offended by Christmas. From Christmas on askarabbi.com:
Christmas is not a Jewish holiday. Many Christians think if Christmas as an American holiday or a secular holiday or a cultural holiday, but most Jews do not think of Christmas that way. According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, 82% of Jewish households never have a Christmas tree. See http://web.gc.cuny.edu/dept/cjstu/36th.jpg. In fact, most Jews (even many highly assimilated Jews) are offended by the notion that Christmas is everybody's holiday, and are offended when Christians pressure us to celebrate it.
From Ask the Rabbi
: Our neighborhood has a Christmas party every year and they hold it in my cul-de-sac. There are always lots of Christian symbols in the lawn decorations, and I wanted to dedicate a portion of our lawn to the many Jewish neighbors. So I thought to decorate a small tree with blue lights and hang some large dreidel ornaments on it. I wanted to include the religious significance by adding a lighted Menorah. If you know where I can buy lawn decorations, that would be really great. I don't want to offend my Jewish friends by doing it the wrong way, and I also thought it would help educate my Christian brothers on the festival.
THE AISH RABBI REPLIES:
Thank you for your kind words, and I appreciate your interest and sensitivity toward your Jewish neighbors. But... please realize that a Christmas party is not appropriate for Jews! As much as Christmas has been secularized by the media, it still essentially remains a Christian religious holiday.
And if your Jewish neighbors pretend not to mind, well, they're probably just being polite.
Apparently there's a LOT of scroogebergs out there.
Cogent, that’s the way it always was when I was growing up
and ....the most Christmasy spirit I ever really felt was in midtown Manhattan in the 80s
back when folks weren’t so worked up