Here in the UK, everyone I’ve talked to generally says Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. In the US, we’ll say Happy for just about everything else (“happy birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, etc….) but Merry Christmas. Anyone have any idea why?
I found this article that leads me to believe Merry Christmas is older while Happy Christmas is newer. This jives with other things I’ve read that lead me to believe that we, in the US, have maintained older words/phrases for things than our British Cousins have.
Image from kevindooley via flickr