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December 24, 2007

Gmail's Christmas Card

Some people noticed a new Gmail login page specially created for Christmas (or holidays, if we want to be politically-correct).

"There may be snow outside, but hopefully there snow spam in your inbox. May your inbox be filled with joy this holiday season and beyond."


Gmail didn't add an option to create Christmas cards, but YouTube lets you send video cards. You can also add the Holiday Village theme to the iGoogle page, download some Christmas gadgets for Google Desktop, try to guess what's the next Google doodle and track Santa in Google Earth.

{ Found by Pavla Kopecna. }

8 comments:

  1. I've seen that on Flickr too, but I don't see this on the login page of Gmail yet.

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  2. I think political correctness has gone a bit too far. This greeting is fine so long as Google and everyone else is consistent and use "Happy Holidays" on the occasion of ALL other religious holidays (i.e. Ramadan, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and my personal favorite, Festivus). Otherwise, just say what it is for crying out loud, Merry Christmas!

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  3. ain't nothing to do with "political correctness", they want to wish everyone who celebrates anything during this season of general holiday-ness to have a happy one, why is Christmas the assumed default in your minds Christian America?

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  4. There's a Wikipedia article about this:

    "In present-day Western society, some suggest that during the months leading up to December 25, public, corporate, and government mention of the actual term "Christmas" is strenuously avoided and replaced with a generic term — usually "holiday" or "winter" — and that popular non-religious aspects of Christmas, secular Christmas carols, and decorated pine trees are still prominently showcased and recognized, but associated with non-specified "holidays", rather than with Christmas. (...)

    In past centuries, Christmas-related controversy was mainly restricted to concerns of a public focus on secular Christmas themes such as Santa Claus and gift giving rather than what was glorified as the "reason for the season"—the birth of Jesus. A symbolic issue from these past controversies was usage of the term "Xmas", which many allege is a conscious attempt at removing the term "Christ" from Christmas."

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  5. CALLING THEM THE HOLIDAYS IS NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT! Jeez. This is the holiday season. There's Thanksgiving, Chanukah, New Years, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, etc. besides Christmas which makes this the holidays.

    If you send a card that is specifically about Christmas, then call it a Christmas card. if you send a card that is secular, then call it a holiday card.

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  6. jonut alex chitu -- Until the mid 19th century Christmas wasn't even celebrated through most of the country. This battle royale over the fake "war on Chrstmas" is not a centuries old battle, but a fiction created by the right wing.

    Heck, the first Congress met on Christmas Day to do business, indicating it's import as a holy day.

    And if you really think that businesses and government are trying to erase any mention of Christ, then how come you can hear "Silent Night, Holy Night" for a month or more in most stores and government buildings with piped in music?

    Finally, Easter is our highest holy day, and Christmas is a less important one. Frankly, we celebrate Christmas because so many cultures we converted to our faith has winter solstice celebrations. Jesus was born in the early spring pretty close to when we celebrate Easter.

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