Jolly Christmas and Merry New Year!

Ho ho ho. Merry Christmas and-

No. Stop right there. I’m not going to do it. No more. No more “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” It’s time for a change.

Jolly Christmas and Merry New Year!

Jolly Christmas

Why jolly? I like jolly. I consider myself jolly. Santa’s jolly. Elves are jolly. Christmas is jolly good fun. It’s a jolly time of year. We don’t use jolly enough. We need to ramp up the jollity. Other than someone “getting his jollies”, we as a society don’t often dip into the “jolly well”. We leave it alone. We’re too cautious.

Let’s throw caution out with the old year and wish everyone a jolly Christmas!

Merry New Year

Why move merry? Am I down on merry? Pushing it back? Demoting it to secondary phrase status? It may seem like it, but that’s not the case. I like merry. I’m a merry-maker. It’s a good word. More importantly, it’s one of the few times of year we get to use it. Think about it. How often do you wish anyone a “merry whatever” outside of the Christmas season?

“Merry morning, boss.” Huh?

“You’re all looking merry today.” Mmmm, I don’t think so.

“Hey, guys, who’s up for a little merriment?” Sure, Robin, let’s round up Little John and Friar Tuck, and ask Will Scarlet to bring his lute. My gut says no.

Merry Christmas and Jolly New Year?

Okay, so why not just leave Christmas alone and change happy to jolly New Year? Why this desire to overthrow the “old” New Year order? What’s my reason?

As Arbiter Yulendi, it’s up to me to make all the tight calls, the tough ones no one else is willing to make. To me, jolly doesn’t work as well with the New Year, and happy is just too plain.

Too Much Change?

Have I gone too far? Is it too much change? Can you be both merry and jolly? Are the two combined too extreme? Or are they too quaint, too cutesy sandwiched together in one sentence? Have I just wasted a three hundred word post on something completely inconsequential?

Oh, well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Should we stick with “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”? You tell me.