"Therefore the child to be born will be called holy" (Luke 1:35).
Let me see if I can help. The next time you hear it called a "holiday tree" instead of a "Christmas tree," or someone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," use it to add to your joy. Yes, add!
How do you do that?
Simply remember that "holiday" comes from "holy + day." It is really "holyday." What a beautiful word! What a perfect description of Christmas! Who doesn't love listening to "O Holy Night"? "Holiday" is like someone singing "O Holy Day." Enjoy!
But now add in the word of the angel to Mary: "the child to be born will be called holy." This means that the "holy" in "holiday" is the Christ Child! And that means that "holiday" is not a secular substitution, but a sacred synonym.
That is how we can hear it, and then pray for people to know the love of God in Christmas.
Holy Christmas Day and its Twelve Days are the Happy Holidays. They are the holy days that make us sad sinners so very happy, because from them we learn and remember throughout the year that a Savior has been born to us!
God's holiness is on bright display when He moves into the world to save us. Meaning that the right response to "Happy Holidays" would be (happily spoken): "Holy days indeed!"