Christmas is past, but we're still in the midst of the holiday season. Earlier this month, Paul Meshanko, in his article for Respectful Workplace, "Don't Let 'Politically Correct' Spoil Your Season's Greetings," discussed what is the right greeting to extend on the job during this time of year. It's hard to know exactly what to say, especially when you have groups like Jehovah's Witnesses who don't celebrate Christmas. If you say, "Happy holidays!" is that wrong? My answer is no, simply because Kwanzaa (a form of new year's celebration practiced by some African-Americans) is a holiday and so is New Year's Day. Meshanko, it seems, would agree.

"Ask yourself a simple question: What is your intent when you extend a greeting to another person? Is it to announce what you personally celebrate or is it to offer an expression of celebration for their benefit? In most cases, it's the latter," Meshanko says.

I'm inclined to agree with him. Most people are just filled with the joy and excitement of this time of year and they want to spread that good feeling. That can't be easy to do when you consider how many people have lost their jobs recently.

Of course, if you know that someone doesn't celebrate Christmas, then saying "Merry Christmas" is a bad idea. But like Meshanko, I agree that saying a hearty "Happy holidays" is nothing more than a way of sharing feelings of good will and happiness. I think it's probably received that way by most of us.