Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Merry Tossmass



This month my section at work is hosting our bureau’s retreat. We have several educational speakers surrounded by a lot of fluff…you know food, gift exchanges, and ice breakers (can’t you hear the employees shiver when they hear that phrase..ice breaker? Or is it just us from Teen Mania Land who shutter? Better yet…try “team building” and watch the nervous twitch in my eye.)

Anyway, as we threw around themes for our “Winter Retreat” We unanimously decided on a “Vegas” theme. But that took all of 2 minutes to be shot down. Later we decided that we would make it a western theme, focusing on the finer points of HATS to avoid the offense, side story of cowboys and Indians (or native Americans, as we call them these days). We were calling it our Holiday Ho Ho Ho Down. But it was shot down because “Ho” could be construed as too close to a certain holiday that begins with C (or offensive to a morally loose woman).

Everything we did was methodically picked through by the management team to decide what would and would not be offensive…and systematically thrown out! Now, I want to add that we don’t have one Jew or Muslim in our entire bureau. Most are committed or nominal Christians. Several agnostics, and a bunch that don’t give a rip. I have a lot of upfront time at this particular bureau retreat. I’ve decided to have a shirt made that say’s “Go ahead, wish me a Merry Christmas!” …or “Merry Tossmass.”

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Danielle...great post as usual. I love the video. This is a topic that has bothered me for years. I still remember when Maddie celebrated Christmas parties in school over the years they have turned into "Winter Fest" parties. It's not just the advertisers, but it is trickling down everywhere. I still tell my children that is more than okay to say Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

This video couldn't be more true...funny, but very sad. Speaking of things that make my blood boil, remember when your dad, you and I were all discussing Benny Hinn and how he has Bentleys etc.? Well I read this blog today that isn't totally agreeable, but it does have some undeniable facts. It just makes me mad that I have barely gottne by a couple of times to send him $$. Go to this link and read it if you have time. Let me know what u think.

gottehttp://gigababy.blogspot.com/2007/08/benny-hinns-gospel-of-personal.htmln

Anonymous said...

I don't know if that link will work, but if you go to the blog, the article is under the month of August.

Beth said...

That was awesome!! I need to forward it to Bill O'Reilly.

Great t-shirt idea—you should mass produce them and make a fortune! : )

Emily Jade said...

Small point that keeps me sane over this whole thing...the word holiday is derived from Holy Day. Out here, we have "Holiday parties", not Christmas parties. I happily wish one and all this time of year Merry Christmas - even if they are prohibited from wishing me the same. Have you seen the email to send Christmas cards to the ACLU?